Stormchild
by anti-viper
Summary: Thrown from place to place, a scar on time itself, Marceline once again senses the need to move from her present surroundings. But a certain kind-hearted weirdo who wears a bear hat isn't about to let her drift into emptiness forever, even if it means exploring her past; a very dangerous adventure indeed.
1. The Poodle Was The Last Straw

**_Stormchild_**

**Chapter 1: The Poodle Was The Last Straw**

"Marceline, I love adventuring and all, but a lot of the time I wish I could be chill like you. You're always on your own schedule and taking things slow! It's like you don't have a care in the world!"

Finn undoubtedly had possessed no inclination as to how much those words had hurt, and per usual, when someone unknowingly said anything that hit close to home, Marceline had shrugged it off, claiming she DID have quite the life. That had been three days ago, and even now she was absentmindedly floating around her home aimlessly with the words stinging her like salt freshly pressed into a grizzly cut.

It was a miracle that Finn, being the doofus he was, hadn't seen anything too revealing when he had journeyed through her memories. Her interrogation of him about the experience a week after it had happened had shown a good deal of holes; not a word of her mother, or her time in the Nightosphere, and (Thank GLOB) anything involving her and Bonnibel.

She hadn't really doubted Finn's honesty, mostly because he was such an upstanding guy, and if he had seen such things she imagined he would have taken them very awkwardly. As it was, he already seemed… different around her since that incident had occurred. Understandably, knowing someone is centuries old pales in comparison to seeing a millennia-old life play-out in regards to mental impact.

Marceline sighed, and in a rare moment of mortality wanted to set herself down. Being too lazy to fly upstairs (let alone climb), she plopped down on the couch. At least, plopped was the word she used while in the motion of falling, as upon collision it felt a lot more like a slam.

"Ugh… ow…" She muttered as she promptly rolled off the stiff leather monstrosity, finally agreeing with Finn and Jake that her couch needed immediate attention. Maybe next century?

She giggled at her little joke before frowning at it and shifting to her back to stare at her ceiling. How long had she occupied this little house? A hundred years? Laughter once again filled the air as she remembered her excitement at having her own home; sure, she had lived in caves and even with Ash in the Treefort, but never had she smacked four walls together, a few windows and doors, and thrown a roof on the whole shebang and labeled it a house.

Well, actually she hadn't done that with this one either; she had just found the least crappy and dilapidated house in Ooo and teleported it. Yeah, teleportation was a pain in the neck-bites, but that and fixing it up had been easier than BUILDING one would have been. Still, it just had to be some crappy off-pink. Bubblegum had just loved that.

To Marceline, it was a shelter to be sure, and she had some fondness for it, but in reality? It wasn't home. She could easily imagine a fleet of scenarios which could cause her to pack, fly away and never come back. And maybe she would think about it with fondness, but no tears would be shed.

Just another shift, another drop in the bucket. If she was so used to faces changing, of faces disappearing, how could she give two fluffs about a house? All she could say about it was that she lived there. At least with people, there were memories, no matter how painful. Heh, as if that were true. She had plenty of memories painful enough to bury for goo—

**Knock knock**

Marceline turned in surprise, not expecting any visitors today… or perhaps she had been and had forgotten. With a sigh, she attempted to clear her mind at least a bit before greeting the knocker, but found herself unable to do so. She then walked to the door and opened it, revealing none other than a slightly petrified canine clutching a viola as if his life depended on it.

"Sup Jake. Can't believe you're here without Finn," Marceline commented, wondering if Jake was asking himself the same question due to how much he was shaking. The poor dog had never really gotten used to her, even though he did put a commendable front of it up while around his buddy.

"Finn wanted to ask if you wanted to jam out today, but he had some p-biz to deal with, so he sent me ahead," Jake replied, calming down a bit. Marceline decided she would ease off the scares today, and had to give him credit; he hadn't stuttered once.

"…I'm kind of feeling down," Marceline admitted, but on second thought realized that Finn's bright and stupid optimism might be exactly what she needed. "But I guess that would be pretty cool. Wanna give him a ring?"

"Ah, he figured you would say yes so he's just going to head down in a few," Jake replied, his eyes caught on something inside the house. Marceline raised an eyebrow and followed his gaze, leading right to Schwabl, her poodle.

"You gotta problem with my pooch, pooch?" Marceline asked darkly, already breaking her resolve.

"Oh, wha?! No! No! Uh, just wondering if… you know, is it alive?" Jake sputtered, and Marceline slapped her head and laughed.

"Nah, HE, Schwabl became a zombie a long time ago. Don't worry though, it was a mutual decision," Marceline added hastily as Jake nearly bee-lined out the door, though it was partially a lie. "Jake, listen bro, we need to have a discussion. Can I rub behind your ears?"

"E-Ears?! That's… that's tier 9, and I'm in a stable, committed relationship expecting child-rawwwwww." Jake's stand lasted up until Marceline's delicate fingers found his favorite ridges and dug in deeply. "A-Alright, whatever you want to talk about, just don't stop… er, do stop…"

"Sheesh, that was easy," Marceline giggled, shaking her head as she walked into the house, and despite his hesitation, Jake followed. "What I wanted to talk about was the fact that you need to stop being so scared around me. We've known each other for a while, and how many times have you seen me suck out someone's soul?"

There was an awkward silence where Jake alternated between frowning and looking at and then away from her. Finally, Jake sighed, placing his Viola on the wall and stroking his jowls. "Alright, guess this is finally happening."

With another clearing of his throat, the dog began to speak. "I've gone down to H E double-hockey sticks for you, lady. I've seen you illegitimately draw my friend into slavery. Your dad is the most evil being I've ever met. AND YOU SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME. But all of that was water under the bridge, until I found out about the LUMPING ZOMBIE POODLE. That's a dog, Marceline. I'm one of those. You turned an innocent, lovable Dog into one of your monstrous followers, and I will not stand for it, sit for it, or lie down for it lest it happens to me as well."

For a moment, after hearing his speech, Marceline nearly considered lashing out at how ridiculous Jake was being for still thinking she had any interest in causing him harm, but, to her surprise, he raised a paw as she opened her mouth and continued to speak.

"And furthermore, as much as I would rather NOT turn into your zombie dog, you don't worry me." Marceline raised an eyebrow as she smirked in amused protest, and Jake gulped. "Yes, you do scare me, but that's different. What worries me is you and Finn." He folded his arms, awaiting her reaction.

That caught Marceline off guard, and with a slight stutter she replied, "Wha-What about me and Finn? I already told him that I don't like him like that, you were there…" She grimaced, and as she did when afflicted by emotion, lifted her bass guitar off the ground and strummed a few chords.

"Oh, I believe you sister," Jake replied with sass, wagging his finger. "That's not my issue. You see, I'm a freaking magic dog. I'm not worried about the world around me sending some crap my way. But Finn? He's still a scrub! We go on some whacked out adventures, but the worst of them have involved you, and your psycho Dad. No offense!" He added quickly, but it didn't seem to do anything to calm Marceline.

It had the opposite effect, as she rose in the air, her eyes burning with red malice and three days of self contempt rearing in pure anger. "The worst of them have involved me?! So, you're saying you don't want to hang out with me? I'm just too bad and terrible, and—" She cut off as abruptly as she had started, lowering herself as she viewed the confused look on the dog's face. Clearly, that's not what he had been going for, and she bit her lip hard for her reaction.

"No, no, no! Not like that… sorry, I'm terrible at getting out what I want to quickly…" Jake muttered, smacking his head and turning around. "They were rad adventures. Some of Finn's favorites. But they were dangerous, and half the time he was in on them purely for your sake. Heck, half of them occurred because you didn't give us the whole picture in the first place!"

Marceline bit her lip ever harder, shrugging. His words rang true, as much as she disliked to admit it, but she found no real meaning to them. At least, she doubted he would possibly be willing to do down that road with her…

"I understand you're a deep person, and that you've lived a long time, and that you have a hard time getting your emotions out without music," Jake continued, and it appeared he was getting to his point. "But as far as I'm concerned, Finn is willing to risk his life for you, sometimes when you refuse to tell him what is going on and even sometimes when you tell him not to bother helping at all, and you don't even have the decency to let him know who you really are. You're more full of secrets than those magical black balls with the little screen and the 8 in the white sphere from before the War we find all over the place. And it's not like he hasn't tried to talk! And how on Ooo do you know the Ice King? And I didn't even know you had a zombie poodle! How hard it is to be open! GAH!"

Caught up in his emotions, Jake reached to flip over a table, before breathing out and realizing he was over-reacting. Marceline simply floated, unable to come to terms with the harsh truths of everything the dog had said, as well as the fact that he was the one who had said them, after hundreds of years of people who were much, much more legitimate and much less afraid of her failing to.

"Ya, ya get what I'm saying?" Jake asked, huffing as he bent over after the rant, but Marceline didn't respond. She just stared through the glass of her window, into the sunny fields just outside of her cave. Her mind flashed to years long ago. To sitting in a field like that herself. It was barely a memory; just the scent of grass and jam and the yellow of the sun in the sky.

"Get out. I have nothing to say to you. None of it would be worth it, and it's better this way. I can do this to you, but not Finn," Marceline whispered very quietly, her voice shaking with barely contained emotion. She should have known it was coming sooner or later. Heck, she actually gotten confronted about it, and that never happened.

"M…Marcy?" Jake said with a gulp, using her shortened name, which he rarely did. "Listen, you scare me, yeah, but it's not that I don't like you, and Finn thinks you're great! It's just, you know…"

"I know Jake. I know. It's always been me. I've always been the one to call out my own… is there even a word for it?" Marceline felt as if every other word would lead to a waterfall of curses and sighs and pleas and sobs. "Crap? You don't give yourself enough credit. You're a great friend and one of the bravest beings I know."

"Whoa, whoa! I'm so sorry dude! This was not supposed to be friendship-ending stuff! Listen, cut me off, but not Finn! Finn's a great guy!" Jake shouted, anxiety getting the better of him, but Marceline only shook her head.

"He is. Too good for me. He'll get deep enough down the rabbit hole that he'll feel I deserve saving, when there's nothing left to save."

"That's bullcrunch! You're a nice lady Marceline, you're shortchanging yourself!"

"I've been down this road so many times. Only one path. I've dragged you guys, especially Finn, in for too long. Tell him I'm sorry, and that we can't see each other anymore. And if he comes around here, tell him I'll leave. Tell him all that will occur if he shows up here for whatever reason will be me finding a new house. Then tell him it is entirely my fault. And if he doesn't believe you, here's a note."

Marceline snatched a spare piece of paper she had left out for songwriting and belligerently marked out a few words that Finn would recognize as her handwriting. As she turned to give it to the dog, she, to her surprise, felt his hands on her shoulders.

"Marceline," He said slowly and calmly, looking directly into her eyes. "This is insane. I'm mad sorry if I struck a never somewhere, but that wasn't my intent. You are my friend, and I am not going to let what I just said hurt you to the degree that it looks like it is. If I thought it would have, I never would have said it—"

"And how is that your fault!" Marceline screamed, slapping his arms off her body. "How could it be?! I'm the reason you wouldn't know! How can you say anything around me without knowing what would set me off?! Sometimes I cry when I watch people eat French Fries, Glob it! After Finn heard that song, he point-blank APOLOGIZED for eating fries in front of me before he knew. Who? Who would do that? I… I… Get out. Get out, get out, get out."

Marceline flew back into the wall, and slid down it, landing with a soft plump as tears began to fall. Jake, from the little bits of him she could see through her eyes, seemed dismayed as could be, but after a minute of having no idea what to do and realizing she would not reply to anything he said, heaved his shoulders, sighed, and walked out of her house with Viola in hand.

From outside, she could just make out fervent paddling, and all of a sudden: "Hey Jake! Sorry I'm late! Ready to jam? Whoa… dude, is everything—". Marceline didn't want to hear Jake's whispers describing her words, and wanted to hear Finn's admissions of disbelief even less. It took Jake ten minutes to convince the boy to not try to talk to her, and Marceline thanked the dog more than she could ever put into words for that effort.

She waited a long time after she knew they were gone before she did anything. Part of her was content to sit there and cry out for as long as she wanted, which could have been awhile. Yet, part of her knew that without a doubt Finn would return to try to console her either tonight or the next day, and that she had to leave. And fast.

Marceline knew she should leave now, but she was just too miserable to even considering it. As she continued to cry, she began to sing softly to herself, building a song from the latest wreckage in her life. Within the first verse she had worked in a bass line, and recovered her axe, strumming it softly.

_I never thought someone would be so foolish and young  
To care for a strange girl who must hide from the sun  
Never thought I'd meet a boy, who cared about my fries  
Never thought he'd care enough to stare into my sullen eyes_

_But I thought that if he knew it was only every friendship  
That he would run away, and live to see another day  
I thought that if he knew, I was a monster, through and through  
He could hate me, and when he didn't, I let him in, anyway _

_Such a nice thought for a change, a hand to hold onto  
But that hand won't stay the same, just like they all do  
Everything about him screams he is of such endless age  
But every time I look at his face  
All I can imagine is me, digging his grave _

With a whimper, Marceline shuddered, laying her bass down and curling up into a small ball on the ground. Schwabl came into the room a moment later, gently lapping up a stray tear of his companion's before lying down next to her in comfort. And as distraught as Marceline was, some part of her found solace in the presence of her only friend beside her, insisting on providing comfort no matter the cost. Reminded her a little of someone else she knew.

* * *

_Well, my original idea for how I wanted this story to go completely shifted mid-way through, and while I kind of think this chapter is a little all over the place in some ways, I really like it in others._

_As indicated by the "child" in the title, this fic will deal a lot with Marceline's past, but rather than going along with it completely chronologically I'm placing a story outside of it._

_I've always found there to be an interesting dynamic with Marceline and Finn as she doesn't assume much out of people and Finn assumes so much out of himself. At first, I think she just thinks he's an idiot, but overtime warms up to how ridiculously noble he is, and a lot of this fic's plot will be that dynamic._

_There will be some Sugarless Gum, but it won't be a focus, the same being said for Ash whenever he shows up._

_Finally, it's worth noting writing Adventure Time styled songs is kind of difficult, hilariously enough. But I liked how it came out, along with the chapter as a whole. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Eviction In Reverse

**Chapter 2: Eviction In Reverse **

_The next morning_

Jake frowned as Finn pulled up a chair at the table, staring at his pineapple waffles with disinterest, which was odd, because usually the boy was all about his pineapples and all about his waffles. Mulling over Marceline's declaration had taken up the rest of their prior night, actually pushing them past their usual bedtime. Sadly, they had come to no real conclusion as to why she had reacted the way she had, and while the turn of events had led Jake to sleep uneasily, Finn's baggy eyes and slow gait indicated greater exhaustion.

"Hey buddy. Rough night?" The dog asked tentatively, still wracked with guilt over the situation. How could he not be? He should have left well enough alone.

Finn heaved a sigh, sticking a slice of waffle in his mouth and chewing morosely. After swallowing, he gave a shrug and replied, "I don't know bro. I'm just down about it." Sensing the dog's furthering self-contempt, he frowned as well. "Jake, it wasn't your fault man."

"…I know, but—" Jake started to reply, before Finn smacked his hand on the table.

"No, bro," Finn interrupted, his eyes gleaming with righteousness as they did when he became impassioned. "You were trying to look out for me, and it wasn't like you had been planning on talking to her. It was just spur of the moment, and it's clear neither of us thought she would take it like that." Jake's eyes sparkled with love for his best friend, and he sniffled a bit before the sadness crept in again; not through guilt, but sadness all the same.

"I know, man. I just feel terrible," Jake replied, lowering his jowls to the table, his hunger nowhere to be found. "You and Marceline are good buds, and even though she likes scaring the guts out of my body she's a cool gal. I just wish we could talk to her about it." Before he could slouch back down and mope, Jake caught a glint in Finn's eye, and sighed. He knew where this was going.

"I'm going to see her," The hero stated with determination, nodding his head as Jake sighed yet again. "I can make her talk, I know I can. She needs someone to be there for her, and I refuse to watch someone I care about push me away when they need help. Nothing math about that."

"I figured you would go to see her regardless of what happened," Jake said, shaking his head at his friend's courageous nature. "You and your boom boom determination."

Finn blushed at the term, and shook his head. "One, don't call it that. NEVER call it that," The boy replied, the memory of that day already painful enough. "And two, I think this should be a solo mission."

Jake opened his mouth to object, but then thought better of it, as it made sense that Marceline would be more receptive to Finn, and it would be a lot less awkward if the dog wasn't there. "Deal, as much as I don't like it. At least let me carry you there though."

"Totally dude. I need all my energy for some vampire vamping," Finn replied with a smile and thumbs up, only to elicit a groan from Jake.

"Okay, even if that did mean what you thought it did, and it doesn't, it would still have been weak," The dog chided. "Speaking of weak, that's what our plan is right now. There is a good chance she's going to run away, and if she does, we need to be able to find her."

"Hmm… fair point my fine fellow…" Finn ruminated, stroking his bald chin. "Actually, since it's light out, if we got her sunhat, we could trap her!"

"Yeah, now you're using your brain Finny!" Jake shouted, becoming more convinced they had a shot to make this work by the minute. "And if she does escape, just bring me something from her house for me to sniff. She can't haul everything in there off with her."

"Dude! Radical!" Finn shouted, jumping in the air and clicking his heels together. "Though I don't know how Lady would feel if I told her you were interested in sniffing another woman's clothing." Finn grinned at his teasing, as he usually was the one on the receiving end.

Jake simply scoffed, shaking his head as he began to scarf down the rest of his breakfast. Finn giggled and then followed, and within a minute they were content with the pineapple mingling in their food cavities.

Without much more ado, they headed to the door, but just before they opened it, Jake turned around and shouted, "Hey, BMO!"

The robot, having been enjoying itself playing with a ball of yarn in the corner of the room, looked up. "Yes, Jake?"

"What's your greatness weakness?" Jake asked, and BMO frowned.

"Rhubarb, why?" Their friend answered, slightly put off by the bizarre request.

"Just wondering in case someday I need to take you out," Jake replied, making dagger eyes at the robot and then turning to the door, ignoring the gasps on Finn and BMO's faces for a few moments before rolling his eyes. "What? You never know man. I've been keeping tabs on everybody ever since we found out the Lich can possess people."

"Oh. That's actually pretty smart," Finn replied, biting his lip. "What's my greatest weakness?"

"Romantic encounters, but at this point if I needed to take you out I'd just show Flame Princess your lock of Bubblegum's hair and she'd toast you in a second," Jake said with a satisfying snap, before pausing. "Actually, that might fall under romantic encounters too. Either way."

"…Ignoring my annoyance at your response, what made you think of asking BMO right now?" Finn questioned, and Jake shrugged.

"I figure there's no casual way to bring it up, so I just do it whenever I think of it. Plus, I've got puppies on the brain most of the time, so I rarely think of other junk anymore." The dog smiled dreamily for a moment, and then shook himself out of it.

"Well, that's that I guess," Finn replied, walking out door with Jake. "See you BMO! Have fun with your string! We'll make sure not to pick up any dumb rhubarb while we're out!"

As he shut the door, BMO shook its head. "Silly Finn and Jake," The robot said with a giggle. "I annihilated all the rhubarb a long time ago with fire and plague. Meow!" BMO batted at the string once more.

* * *

Of course Marceline had slept late. Why wouldn't she have? It wasn't as if anything ever, Glob forbid, went her way. After quickly throwing on the sun-repellant outfit she had lied out the night before – a gray and black horizontal-striped button-down shirt, tight blue jeans, black leather gloves and her hat (of course), with a emergency umbrella slung on her back for good measure — she had begun to zoom around her house at extreme speeds, and currently was at the tail-end of packing. Which was by no means anywhere near the easiest part.

Marceline grumbled as she tried to fit another piece of clothing in the monstrosity of a bag sitting in front of her. Everything that wasn't fragile was being poured, slammed, pushed, and prodded into said large duffel bag, which looked desperately close to bursting. Everything that was fragile was being delicately wrapped in bubble-wrap, by far one of Marceline's favorite inventions (whenever she popped a bubble it made her incredibly amused, and as such she had already wasted half of it trying to raise her spirits), and then placed in a more plush bag.

She figured the various curses she had on the house to protect it from undesirables would hold for awhile if need be, and as such was content with leaving most of her items. Most of them didn't mean much to her anyway. Schwabl wasn't exactly a travel pet either, even if he was incredibly resilient, so as sad as it made her Marceline had decided to leave him too, with plenty of "Tastes Just Like Brains!" zombie-poodle food in the kitchen for when he got hungry.

Marceline tossed a basketball into the bag before frowning. "Nah, I ain't got game," She muttered to herself, tossing it behind her and wincing as the window shattered. She was wicked stressed from trying to balance how long she had until Finn tried to talk to her, packing, and where the hell she was even going in her mind.

She had even considered ripping open a portal to the Nightosphere; certainly would have been the most convenient option, minus the fact that her father was the LAST person she wanted to see right now. And of course, she was very in the mood to cut out some of her inner-angst with her bass that sat in the corner, beckoning. It was all too much.

As was trying to zip up the damned duffle bag, which took her ten more minutes of tugging even with Vampire-super-strength. She wiped some sweat from her forehead and turned towards the other bag. It was mostly filled as well, and she had very little bubble-wrap left. With a shrug, she went to seal it before a sudden thought struck her.

Marceline floated up through the ladder into her room, lowering herself to her nightstand and opening it. She clawed through it vigorously, one item on her mind, but many flying out that she had forgot even existed. In particular, her sullen face found a small smile when she pulled out the… what had Bonnibel called it when she had given it to her? "Black rubber hot dog?"

_"I've heard these are often given amongst couples, but am not quite sure why, or what the exact name is. I figured you would know what it is and what to use it for, though!" The Princess had stated with the most brazen ignorance possible._

Marceline's back arched as she began laughing just as hard as she had that day, and with a shake of her head she placed the object in her jean's pocket. These were going to be some lonely nights, after all.

That thought brought her high back down, and it was further crushed when she found what she had been looking for in the first place.

"Hey, Mom," She whispered softly, staring at the picture frame grasped in her hands, just able to make out her reflection in the glass.

A young woman with raven-black hair that swept down to the floor and blue eyes aged beyond her years stared back, a feeble smile etched upon her face. Hard to smile when you knew the world was coming to an end, apparently. Marceline faced the portrait away, before the tears could come, missing the warmth of her mother's pale skin regardless of the centuries that had passed since it last graced her own.

With a sniffle, she reached into the frame and nearly pulled the picture out to carry with her, before a booming knock on the door startled her. The frame dropped out of her hands, but she caught it just in time, placing it back in the drawer, before realizing what that knock signified; she was out of time.

Racing downstairs to already find Finn having let himself in through the broken window, Marceline halted at his presence. Finn frowned, disheartened to see that Marceline had been planning on leaving regardless of whether or not he attempted to speak with her. Raising his hands in peace, the hero said, "Marceline, please, can we just — wait, why is there a burnt hot-dog in your pocket?"

"I told you NOT to come," Marceline hissed, narrowing her eyes and taking mark of the two items she had to take with her: her bass and her hat. "There's nothing to discuss Finn, I… I need to leave. To get out."

"No, not until we talk," Finn replied resolute, grimacing as he noticed her umbrella. So much for going for her hat. "Jake feels horrible about what happened, and we both want to help."

"THAT'S THE PROBLEM YOU IDIOT!" Marceline screamed, holding her hand out and summoning her bass into her hands as her hat landed on her head. The pain on his face from her outburst made her wince herself, and she softened her tone. "You can't help me, Finn!" She bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood. Pity there was none left. "And you, out of all people, can't understand that. That's why I have to go. Get out of my way… I don't want this to end badly."

"It already is ending badly Marceline!" Finn replied, punching his face in frustration. "You're not making any sense. I know I'm an idiot with personal stuff, but please!"

Marceline shook her head. "It has nothing to do with that. You're the closest anyone's ever gotten, and that's why I've got to go. How many times have I almost led you to your death…?"

"I'm ten times more afraid of you leaving than me dying!" Finn shouted (stupidly) in return, finally risking moving forward. "And I'm horrible at multiplication!" Marceline lowered into a defensive stance as Finn continued to move forward. She wasn't going to get through to him, and had to get over him. Both figuratively, and literally.

At his next step, Marceline flipped over the human, landing gracefully and sprinting towards the window, leaping out of that as well. The moment she darted out of Finn's sight, she turned invisible, and began flying as fast as she could. Of course, if the hero was fast enough, he might be able to glance up and see her bass floating in the air, but it wasn't like she had many options.

That was indeed what happened as she glanced behind her, a small blip in her vision streaking on her path and screaming, "MARCELINE!" at the top of its lungs. It broke her heart, but she could not stop. It was for his own good.

Despite the fact she was flying at a breakneck speed, it was at least ten minutes before the shouts of her name died in the air. Marceline had been through a lot of pain in her life, but had a sickening notion that those ten minutes would linger as one of her worst memories.

She felt sick, depraved, and disgusting. And the worst, most bitter and terrible thing was that it would happen again. She would lose her strength, and find someone who was kind, who would start to ask questions, who would want to…

Marceline couldn't take it, glancing around for the closest thing she could find to shelter and flying into a small cave. Gently propping up her bass and removing her sunhat and umbrella, she curled into a small ball, cursing the world. Cursing Finn for being so damn noble. And most of all, cursing herself. With nowhere to go, and no one to go to, she gripped herself rightly and soaked in her sadness.

Miles away, Finn collapsed into the dirt, his heart beating at a rate he didn't know was possible, his entire body oiled with its own sweat. His lungs ached from lack of hydration, but that did not stop him from muttering "Marceline" as his eyes blinked once more before shutting.

To the east, the sound of steel slicing the air sounded; if the boy had been awake, he would have seen waves of waves of daggers falling from the sky. Instead, he remained broken on the ground, unaware of the cold, hard danger rapidly approaching.

* * *

_I'll be up-front, I am a butt when it comes to updates. I gave up on controlling my muse a long time ago, and when it strikes me, it does. But, so far, I am cautiously optimistic at how much work I've gotten done on this fic considering how little time I've had to write._

_While this story obviously has a ton of angst, it's still Adventure Time, so I want to inject as much of that bizarreness as I can into it (on that note, I hope someone got as much of a kick out of the dildo scene as I did). The only thing I didn't like about this chapter was parentheses and adverbs._

_Oh, and I PROMISE the knife-storm isn't just a cliff-hanger for the sake of hanging off of cliffs. It's still a stupid plot device, but it has a bit more legitimacy than that. Also, I edited some of the horribly moronic errors in the first one. No matter how close you read, there's always one lumping mistake. On a positive note, more characters in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!_


	3. The Not So Calm After The Storm

**Chapter 3: The Not So Calm After The Storm**

As the Vampire mourned her life's pain and the hero remained unconscious and in immediate danger, something even more saddening, even more pain-inducing, and even more unspeakable was occurring.

"Ooooh, Gunter! Bubblegum is gonna be all ovah these abs!" The poor penguin could only avert his eyes (which had seen things too horrifying even for the Lich's empty gaze) as the Ice King coated his bunchy and thin abdominal muscles with maple syrup. "She likes sweet? Oh, baby! Am I gonna give her sweet!"

"Queck, queck!" Gunter hissed, unable to block his ears with his fins.

"Hmmm, maybe you're correct Gunter," The Ice King muttered thoughtfully. "Perhaps the cage is my undoing. What if she lived in my beard? Oh, I know she would go for that. It's so warm, and roomy, and there's little snacks for her to munch on!"

Gunter bent over, nearly hurling on the spot, before rushing to the bathroom to welcome his lunch back into the world.

"Pff. No wonder he's single. No idea what the ladies like," The Ice King laughed, throwing his blue robe (IT WAS NOT A DRESS DAMMIT) over his worn and pale body. "Off to get me something to chew on and blow, if you know what I mean."

It was only in Glob's grace that poor Gunter was not in the room for that misfire, as he might have had to call Doctor Princess for an emergency visit if he had been.

"Laddeeda dee da, it's awesome to fly with yo beard," The Ice King said in sing-song as he lifted off the ground and began his short trip to the Candy Kingdom. He made decent headway until he heard a distinct clanging he was all too familiar with, and cursed. "Stupid knives, I knew I should have checked the weather instead of watching Giraffe-wrestling."

The disgruntled frost monarch was close to drastically adjusting his course when a spec on the ground caught his attention. It was small, and directly in the path of the knife-storm; some of the stray blades had already begun to fall near it from what he could make out, stanky Wizard-Eyes withstanding.

Now, a sensible being would have not bothered to swoop down in the direct path of an incoming knife-storm and look at a random object when there was sweet princess action to be had. Fortunately for Finn and unfortunately for the rest of the world, the Ice King was a raving lunatic driven insane by an item of supreme power never meant for mortal hands, and whose chest was currently covered in maple syrup (meaning he also wasn't getting anything close to princess action, except from possibly Breakfast Princess). He also happened to have the attention span of a five year old boy in the candy kingdom, something Finn could relate to oddly enough as well.

The moral of the story is the batty wizard flew down to figure out what was about to get punctured, hoping it might be some neat loot, maybe a new couch or perhaps a vacuum cleaner, and gasped when he realized it was Finn. The boy moaned in turn, a knife having collided directly with his arm, his gooey blood spilling onto the ground.

"Oh no! My chum is about to get turned into knife chow!" The Ice King exclaimed, raising his hands in dramatic expression before lowering them and humming shrewdly. "Then again, this would mean a lot easier job of bringing the Princess back here if she's not on the same wavelength. I mean, I know she will be, but you know. Girls. Right Finn?"

He glanced down to notice several knives buried in the boy's body, and dimly realized a few were now sticking out of his own. "Oh. Ehh, guess I could turn this situation into 'Ice King saves the hero of Ooo'. I'll at least get a smooch out of that, and that's when she'll feel the maple syrup when she presses up against my body and then she'll moan as we become stuck together for all eternity." The Ice King blushed as he giggled in pleasure. "Oh my, I really need to right some of this stuff down for my fanfic."

A particularly large blade, more of an axe really, landed an inch away from Finn's head, and the wizard gulped. Wasting no more time, the Ice King lifted Finn into his arm, a few of the knives breaking off from the sudden movement, and began to zoom towards the Candy Kingdom, taking care to remove some of the knives from the boy (and himself, though he was feeling particularly numb today and barely felt them), freezing his wounds immediately after plucking each out.

It didn't take him long to breach the kingdom's skyline, and with haste he flew into its castle's large infirmary. Dr. Ice Cream was tending to Starch, who seemed to have something along the lines of Rabies based on his foaming drool, and turned around dramatically.

"Hey, my buddy kinda got caught in a knife-storm. He's just full of hi-jinks, you know?" The Ice King deadpanned, dropping Finn, whose skin was now matching his own hat in color, onto a bed and shrugging. "Er, medical crap weirds me out, so I'm gonna use the little Ice King room while you guys do whatever it is you do. I mean, if it were me, I'd probably attach strings to him and make a puppet show."

The looks on the faces of everyone in the room were filled with abrasive shock and confusion, looks the monarch had simply learned to block out over the years. With another shrug before leaving the room, he said, "Tell Bubblegum I'm here when you get the chance. Got a nice syrupy surprise for her."

Ignoring the wizard's ramblings (which was hard to do), the Doctor rushed forward, examining the patient, who by now had only three knives left in him. Unfortunately, one was sticking out from exactly the area his heart resided; it was a miracle the Ice King had elected to not remove it, as if he had, Finn would have been in even worse shape. "My Glob, he's near death's door, we need to hurry," Ice Cream shouted, the Taffy-Nurses springing to action and preparing a blowtorch for the ice, the laffy-taffy wound sealant and liquorice soda in case he needed more blood.

* * *

Deep in the Deadzone, Death grunted as his doorbell sounded. "This is my favorite part of Heat Signature, you can stay alive for a few more seconds you butt!" He shouted, scooping a handful of poppin' corn out of a canister.

* * *

"Doctor, the laffy-taffy is holding but he's barely stabilizing… and I don't think the liquorice is a great idea. We need the Princess before we can operate on the remaining knives," One of the nurses said, and the Doctor nodded, motioning for her to retrieve Bubblegum.

The nurse ran as fast as she could, bursting through the Princess's lab when she reached it and shouting, "PRINCESS! FINN THE HUMAN IS DYING! HE NEEDS BLOOD!"

Turning in shock but settling into steely resolve nearly instantly, the Princess nodded; if Bonnibel Bubblegum was anything other than succulently sweet, it was prepared. Taking a prick of Finn's blood while he was sleeping to create sufficient blood in case of such an emergency (and also to work on cloning experiments should the need of a Finn-army ever arise) was a precaution few would have ever thought of (partially because the latter fell under her "extremely unethical" experiment. Silly morals).

She quickly retrieved a tank of the red-gunk in question and without another word sprinted to the infirmary, where the medical staff immediately attached the tank to a diffuser and began to pump it into Finn via a liquorice IV. Clearing her throat, the doctor quickly removed the first two knives, filling the wounds with potent laffy taffy. After, she took another deep breath, staring at the knife near Finn's heart with determination.

Faster than humanly possible, she pulled out the knife and crammed a handful of taffy into the boy's heart, intricately twisting her fingers to repair it properly. The procedure was over in seconds, after-which the doctor sighed, wiping her head and therefore sending a good chunk of ice-cream flying across the room.

"I think he'll be okay. No matter how many mother-lumpin' PSA's we run about knife-storms, people just refuse to invest in stainless steel umbrellas," The ice cream cone muttered, shaking her head.

"Finn… what happened…" The Princess whispered, cupping the poor boy's cheek in her hand. He was cold, both from the ice and lack of blood, but was slowly regaining his peachish tone. "Does anyone know—"

Before she could finish, the doors to the infirmary were kicked in by none other than the Ice King, immediately walking over to Finn's side. Bubblegum was about to order him to be attacked when he said, "You know how hard it is to take a tinkle when your robe is stuck to your chest by maple syrup? Sheesh. The things I do for love." He paused, glancing around the room. "Oh, and is he doing alright? Can't believe I found him sleeping in the middle of a knife-storm."

Bubblegum smacked her head in disbelief, but went along with the crazed geezer's ramblings. "I'm sure that must have been very trying for you," She said cordially, trying her best to smile, and making sure to stay away from the Ice King; even if she was wearing her lab coat, the thought of him getting maple syrup on her was enough to make her barf up Big League Chews. "Thank you for saving Finn. I did not think you had it in you. At all. Um, would you care to tell me why he was out in a knife-storm?"

"Beats me," The Ice king replied with a shrug. "I was just heading over to see you and found him on the ground. Looked pretty exhausted though. Like he had been running. Probably needs to work on his cardio. Don't worry Princess, this will never happen again, we'll become work-out buddies." His face suddenly scrunched up, as if he was forgetting something terribly important before snapping into realization. "Oh, and when do I get my reward kiss?"

"Okay, give him a medal of some kind and get him out of my sight before he gets maple syrup all over me," Princess Bubblegum finally snapped, violently pointing towards the door. The Banana Guards in the room immediately grabbed and escorted the king, who began to mutter that a medal wasn't half bad.

Then, with a much more sullen face, the Princess turned her gaze back towards her hero, and sighed in pain. "Oh, Finn. How did this happen? Thank Glob you're okay… I have to let Jake know." With that, she whipped out her cellular device, dialing Lady Rainicorn's number.

* * *

After about an hour of moping, Marceline decided that she needed to get on the move again. Finn would most likely be nowhere near her by now, and had hopefully turned back. Either way, it seemed to be less sunny outside, making it optimal for travel. And she hated the dank, dark cave with all her heart guts by now, though she had barely spent any time in it whatsoever.

Gathering her belongings once more, she slowly lifted-off, seeing no point in rushing. That was, until a metal object whizzed in front of her face.

"Sheesh, really?" The Vampire queen spat, avoiding the incoming barrage of steel with exquisite ease. "Not like I'm surprised, but if the world thinks a few fluffin' knives are going to make today worse, it has no idea."

Marceline turned to avoid the storm's path, but immediately halted, her eyes tracing the angle of the torrent of sharpness. She was no meteorologist, but if she wasn't mistaken… Marceline's heart never beat, but in moments like this, that feeling became even more omni-present. Finn would have been caught right in the storm's eye based on where he had been running. And the eye of a knife-storm isn't calm like a regular one; the knives are just on fire.

The imagine of a shiskabob'd and flaming Finn filling her mind despite her protests, Marceline sped forward at a speed she hadn't reached in a century. After a few moments, a scent that usually caused only arousal within her, but now brought fear struck her nose. That of blood.

It barely took her anytime to reach the site of the red liquid in question, her body magnetized to the smell. Marceline limply dropped to the ground, walking slowly over to a small puddle of blood and a few still-evaporating knives, the steel and iron breaking up into small particles and returning to that great magnet in the sky.

The lack of Finn was odd, but that small detail brought little hope to her; there was more than enough blood on the ground to ensure that wherever he was, he was critically injured. Because he had chased her. Because of her. Finn was most likely lying somewhere, dying, because of her.

"Glob. Damn. It." Marceline hissed, smacking the ground with all of her force, leaving a crater the size of a trampoline. As miserable as she felt, she soon raised her head, determined to do everything in her power to find Finn and help him. However, that thought led to confusion; if Finn had wandered off, why was there no trail of blood? He certainly hadn't left via the ground, so that only left the air, and though he had a fondness for jumping off of tall structures, he couldn't fly—

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT A SHINY MEDAL!" The Ice King shouted from far above her, Marceline's head snapping back at the sound. Her Vampire-senses tingled (which involved a very bizarre feeling in the appendix), knowing that her old friend and Finn often crossed paths.

"SI — ICE KING!" She screamed, waving her arms and gaining his attention. He quickly dropped, a large and geeky smile etched on his withered face.

"Oh Marcy, you won't believe it!" He said excitedly, running over to her and throwing his arms around her. "Princess Bubblegum gave me a medal for saving Finn! A medal! Ohh, she wants this frosty boy now! I'm going to go online and just SPLURGE on pink items for when she moves in."

"WAIT, hold on!" The Vampire screamed, grabbing her old friend by the shoulders. "You saved Finn!?"

"Oh, yeah!" He replied, giving a thumbs up. "The silly goose was just lying on the ground when I flew by and picked him up. I mean, he had a ton of knives in him already, but I froze the ones that I could and got him to the Candy Kingdom. Then Bubblegum — HEH, SHE'S GREAT ISN'T SHE!?" He lost himself in his dopy imagination for a moment, his thoughts filled with an excess of the color pink and the feeling of chewing a nice piece of gum before shaking back to reality. "Er, she refilled his blood. Somehow. But it's alright, Finn and I are becoming work-out buddies, so he'll be fine in the future."

As per usual with speaking with Simon's lost form, Marceline had to actively work to figure out what was truth and what were insane ruminations. When he finished, though, she felt utterly relieved that it seemed like Finn was alright. That thought was quickly replaced with confusion as to why she now felt sticky, and why a waft of maple syrup was filling her small, pointed nostrils. A glance at the king's mess of a robe gave her an answer she was not hoping for, but somehow that was swallowed in her thankfulness.

"Thanks, Ice King," She whispered, even hugging him again. "I'm proud of you for saving Finn. It… it was my fault that he was in that storm. He was chasing after me." As the tears began to fall from her eyes, even though she knew the man in front of her was no longer the one she had revered, she squeezed tighter, desperate comfort. "I hate it. I hate it that I hurt the people around me no matter what I do."

There was a slight silence before the Ice King, in a quiet, tiny voice that sounded much more akin to Simon Petrikovs's, said, "You've never hurt me, Marceline. Finn's my buddy, but he beats me up all the time. I've known you as long as I can remember, and you've never hurt me at all."

To call Marceline's reaction to her friend's statement emotional would be the greatest understatement she had witnessed in all her time on the world. She clung to him desperately, sobbing harder than she had in years, touched beyond words. "Thank you so much Simon. I love you," She managed to sputter out after a few moments.

"No problemo. I mean, my name is the Ice King, but if calling me Simon makes you feel better, feel free," The wizard replied, patting her tenderly on the back. He always had a fondness for Marceline he really couldn't explain. Parting with her, he said, "Welp, I've got to go change out of this robe and shower… covering your abs in maple syrup wasn't my best idea. Feel better, and if you need a place to hang, come on down to my palace! We'll jam!"

He waved as he flew off, Marceline shaking her head in disbelief as she wiped a tear. "I will someday, Simon… but right now, I have to go. I'm sorry," She whispered. "Thank you for saving Finn… I promise, I will never be around to hurt him again." With that, she began to float away, high into the sky; she had no course in mind, content to let the wind carry her away.

* * *

"Thank goodness you are here," Princess Bubblegum said upon Jake and the Lady's arrival, both anxious and immediately glancing in Finn's direction. The Princess smiled sadly, nodding her head in understanding. "He's doing alright… he should be fine in an hour, thanks to the powers of modern science. But, I have no idea why he…"

"Oh, I know why," Jake interrupted, sighing. If he had looked guilty earlier in the day, he looked downright downtrodden now. "I should have never let him go alone."

"Excuse me?" Bubblegum asked, her interest piqued, a harsh edge to her voice. Yes, she had fended off the boy's advances for the past year, but that didn't mean she didn't care for him deeply, and could be rather hostile to anyone who, even unintentionally, injured her champion. The dog cleared his throat, all eyes in the room on him.

"It all started yesterday," Jake began, recalling the events in his mind. "Finn and I were going to go hang out at Marceline's house, and jam, but I ended up getting their first because Finn was hanging with FP. Anyway, I got there, and one thing led to another and I began to confront Marceline about how secretive she was even though we had pretty much nearly croaked helping her several times. Long story short, she went off the deep end about it, telling me to get out before freaking out, and finally she just collapsed and wouldn't do anything else but cry. It was horrible. She said we couldn't see each other anymore and that if we came around she'd pack up for good."

The dog paused, frowning and looking at his feet. Everyone in the room watched with apt attention, but Bubblegum seemed especially entranced, a mix of emotions on her pink face.

"So then," He continued, "the next day, after we discussed what had happened, Finn decided he should try to see her alone. I agreed and dropped him off because I thought he had a solid plan, but apparently she got away from him and he chased her to the point of exhaustion. I've just been hanging with the Lady until I got your call."

"Jake," the Princess said immediately after the dog finished speaking, a frown now afflicting her own face. "What specifically did Marceline say?"

Jake raised an eyebrow then squinted, trying to bring the scene back into his mind. "Well, he muttered, scratching his chin, "she got a little freaked out when I mentioned her dad, and said that she was going to just wind up hurting us, especially Finn. She mentioned the whole Fry-song too, but I don't know if you know about that. She just seemed depressed. I felt mad awful. What I said seemed to really hurt her…" He trailed off, a tear forming in his eye. He heard a sniffle, and raised his head in surprise to see the Princess crying as well.

"Oh… Marcy…" She whispered, shaking her head. "She's always been like this. The moment she lets someone in close, she rips herself away. Except Finn refused to let her, and it nearly cost him his life." Lady Rainicorn frowned at Bubblegum's words, while Jake looked between the two of them, his face contemplative.

"So, you two do have a sort of past, then?" He asked, and the Princess winced before nodding slowly. "I figured as much, what with the whole Door Lord incident. Do you have any idea where she might be heading off to?"

Bubblegum sighed, staring out the window. "I could make several educated guesses," She whispered, shaking her head. "But honestly? Marceline is a wanderer. She always has been. I can think of numerous places she could be. The best bet we would have is if you find her scent."

Jake nodded, smiling. "That's what Finn and I were planning on doing if talking to her didn't work out."

The Princess tried to share his optimism, but her face fell into a frown. "Jake… I don't know what catching up to her again will do. I mean, I understand that you and Finn don't want to lose a friend, but Marceline… this is how she is. And honestly, you said it yourself, she gets people into danger. It's how she's built."

Jake shared her frown immediately, before it started to deepen. He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and shut it. After another second passed, he said bluntly, "PB, that's crap. Marceline never made us hang around her. Finn did it because he liked her and I did it afterwards when I got over her being a Vampire. She never demanded anything out of us. Period. You sound bitter, and Finn would be disappointed with you even expressing the idea that we should just let a friend seal herself off when it's clear she's dealing with trying stuff."

The Princess and Lady gasped at Jake's full-frontal statement, but were interrupted by a moan. All eyes immediately shifted to Finn, who was slowly moving around in his bed. "M-Marceline, don't go," He whispered, his face clenched in pain. "Please, I can help…"

Everyone in the room felt their heart sink at the boy's innocence and nobility. "Jake, I understand your words," Bubblegum said suddenly, moving over and placing her hand on Finn's head. "And I understand that nothing I can say will stop Finn from trying to help Marceline. It's just… you have to understand my concern. Finn and Marceline are the most stubborn people I have every come across. It's an unstoppable force hitting an immovable object, if you will. I just can't imagine anything but pain being the result."

"He will feel pain in any case from his failure, and she will feel pain from her separation to protect him," Lady Rainicorn said quietly, finally speaking in her Korean tongue. "Bonnibel, I see no other choice than letting Finn continue his efforts while supporting him to the best of our ability."

"MARCELINE!" Finn shot up in his bed the moment the Lady finished speaking, startling most in the room. The boy panted, looking around in confusion at his friends and the medical staff of the Candy Castle. "…Marceline? Aww, we'll I be lumpy shepherd's pie," He muttered as he realized he had failed.

"Hey man, if I wasn't allowed to beat myself up, neither are you," Jake said, patting his friend on the back. "You did everything you could. Heck, you ran so hard you collapsed in the middle of a knife-storm!" Finn's face froze at this news, looking around the room.

"I-I did?" He whispered, in shock. Everyone nodded sadly, Jake squeezing his shoulder.

"The Ice King, by some bizarre stroke of luck, found you," The Princess stated, still barely able to believe the fact herself. "He brought you here, but you were at Death's door. We were so worried."

* * *

"Glob, I fluffin' love that movie," Death muttered, standing up and stretching his bones. "Now let's see what moron killed himself this time." He made his way toward his home's door, and opened it to find not a trace of a soul, alive or dead. "Ugh. I hate giving freebies. Whatever, I'll just watch that Beautopia documentary again."

* * *

"I'm sorry, ya'll," Finn replied, his voice small, nearly as small as how small Jake could get when he got really small. "I didn't mean to make you worry, Peebles, or you Jake. Does FP know?" Jake shook his head, and Finn sighed. "I'll have to tell her once I get discharged. I didn't mean to put myself in danger, I just… wasn't thinking."

"It's alright, Finn, you were just trying to do the right thing," Princess Bubblegum said cheerfully, rubbing his head, a response that, even if he had moved on from her, she expected would make him smile in return. Instead, his shoulder's drooped.

"I know PB. I just… I'm sorry I made you guys worry. You deserve better," He replied, yet after those words his face hardened and he scooted up on the bed as if to appear taller. "We still need to find Marceline. Jake, when I'm healed up, we'll go to her house and get her scent, deal?"

"Sure thing brother!" Jake replied, his tail wagging so furiously that Lady began to blush and giggle in Korean. "Oh, you think that's something! I'll show you what I can do with this tail later tonight, just you watch!" The dog teased, his lover's blush deepening.

"What tier is that?" Finn whispered in wonder to Bubblegum, who shrugged.

"No clue, I haven't had a tail for awhile," The Princess replied nonchalantly, and Finn raised an eyebrow; Marceline wasn't the only person hiding things, it seemed.

* * *

_To begin with, I think I could write about the Ice King and only the Ice King for the rest of my life and not get bored. He is a comedy train off the rails, man. Sadly, I don't know if I kept that momentum going through the chapter; at first the change in quality was really apparent, so I worked to fix that and think it came out alright._

_Also, this one was a bit longer. The plot is starting to come together I think. Not sure how long this will be, and pretty shortly it's going to become very Marceline/Finn driven (at which point I will violently struggle to stick to the script and not ship them)._

_Not much else to say besides, would anyone feel uncomfortable having an Ice Cream Cone operate on them? Somehow that has now become a horror scenario for me. Only Adventure Time, lol. Thanks for reading!_


	4. Thieving, Rampage, And Bird Stuff

**Chapter 4: Thieving, Rampage, And Bird Stuff**

The sun slowly fell into the horizon as Finn spoke to his girlfriend, who was able to pull off quite a convincing charade of the celestial body herself. It was that specific reason that made him fairly concerned; he knew he had to go after Marceline, but he needed to make is as clear as possible to Flame Princess that he had no romantic feelings for her whatsoever.

Which, really, shouldn't be that hard. Except he was himself, and his words turned to ugly yogurt someone left sitting in the sun when it came time to discuss complicated matters. So, he had tried to take it slowly and explain the entire situation as FP nodded here and there, mostly maintaining a neutral expression.

"And that's why I have to go after her. I'm sorry I put myself in danger like that," Finn finished to Flame Princess, his oven-mit-clad hand on her shoulder as she simply smiled at him. Finn smiled back awkwardly, surprised his girlfriend seemed to be taking the news of his near-death and quest to find another woman so well.

"Oh, Finn, I'm just glad you're okay!" Flame Princess replied cheerfully, patting him quickly on the shoulder as not to burn him. "Besides, I know you would never cheat on me, especially with someone who is a thousand years old, silly. I just want to make sure that I can give you any help you need, and that you know I'd like you back as soon as possible." Finn was positively beaming as she finished speaking, and quickly began looking around for a rock to kiss.

"I got you brother!" Jake shouted from a few yards away, lounging on a beach chair near the Tree-House's pond. The dog reached down and lifted a decent size rock off the ground, tossing it over to Finn, who caught it and gave his friend a thumbs-up.

The boy then smooched the rock heavily, even throwing in a little tongue for good measure; it might be awhile since he next saw her, after all. She giggled as she watched him assault it so with his lips, and when it came time to match his efforts took her time, lightly nipping before sucking heavily on the charred, moist (and now quite ecstatic) rock.

Finn felt his pants tighten for reasons he really didn't understand, and had the distinct feeling he was blushing terribly. "W-Wow. I'll really miss you FP, you're so math." He gulped as he quickly looked her shimmering, curvy and alight body. It sent shivers down his spine, how radically algebraic his dame was. Sometimes he couldn't even take it.

The Princess seemed stoked at her boyfriend's lust for her, giggling madly. "I know I am my hero, now go out and do what you do best," She whispered in return, taking his gloved hands in her own. "And maybe we can escalate through a few tiers when you get back. There are some parts of you I'd really like to burn off, if you know what I mean. Bye Finn! Good luck!" With that, she turned and sped forth, leaving Finn feeling both incredibly aroused and slightly afraid. Mostly aroused.

"You know," Jake said, leaping off his beach chair and flipping five times in the air before landing in a split, a brief sniffle emerging from his nose as he recalled his gymnastics days. "I know I said I would stop making these terrible puns, but your GF is really, really hot."

"Y-Yeah," Finn whispered, picking up the rock once more and putting it in his backpack for good luck. "She's something. Nice find, bro. I still owe you for that."

"Eh, I kind of caused our house to get the lump burned out of it and the Goblin City to get assaulted, so we'll call it even," Jake replied, remembering the day clearly. "At first I was pretty sorry I let a psychopathic Fire Elemental into our lives, but she's really sweet. I think you guys are really good for each other. We need to work on the whole 'kiss and you cause the apocalypse' thing, though."

"Totally," The boy replied, swallowing. "Anyway, we should probably head to Marceline's house and get a scent going."

"Aight," Jake said, knowing (and feeling more than a little smug satisfaction as a result) how important his schnoz was in this operation. Before they could continue, a large shrieking was heard, and both turned to find Bubblegum's Morrow swooping downward, the Princess herself upon its back and dressed in her regular garb.

"Hey boys!" She shouted with her trademark friendly wave as the bird landed, pooping a spurt of white out as it did so.

"Aww! Right on our yard! Common, man!" Jake shouted, waving his fist at the bird, who showed no sign of care whatsoever.

"Ugh… Morrow…" Bubblegum muttered, shaking her head and pinching her nose. "He just goes whenevs. Doesn't give a crap where we are, what we're doing…"

"You mean the opposite, he DOES give a crap no matter what," Finn replied with a girlish giggle. Jake groaned and expanded his hand before smacking his face so hard that he flew into the Tree House, while Bubblegum, who at first tried to convey the same displeasure, eventually fell into uncontrollable laughter, falling off the bird and rolling on the ground. Finn smiled, feeling accomplished; usually his puns only caused reactions matching Jake's.

"Whooo! Good one, Finn," She said after she caught a breath, wiping a stray tear from her eye.  
"Anywho, I was wondering if you guys wanted a lift to Marceline's house. I'm not up to much today, so I figured I could lend you guys a hand."

"That'd be math Peebles!" Finn replied thankfully, and Jake nodded, though his eyes caught the Princess's and she had a distinct feeling he was more hesitant about her presence.

But the dog said nothing, and after clearing her throat the Princess said, "Well, hop on! But, er, watch your step." The two adventurers followed her advice, keeping away from the white glob, and leapt onto the Morrow's back before the trio of P, Finn & J lifted off in the direction of Marceline's house.

* * *

Marceline knew she should feel bad, she really did. She knew that taking her anger out in such pathetic and childish ways was wrong, and she had no idea why she felt afflicted enough to take things this far. Not even her breakup with the Princess had gone this badly. Well, there was one reason why this time was worse, but it was the last thing she wanted to think about right now. Still, even as she screamed bloody murder, she couldn't feel herself getting into it, and just wanted to stop. Since when had she not loved scaring the living crap out of a town?

The City of Thieves was a perfect destination, and one she had used before to unload her anger. Besides the fact that the area usually had a good deal of cloud coverage (as was the case today), all of the people were scum anyway, and there were so many streets to chase people down.

"I'M GOING TO SUCK YOU ALL DRY!" She screamed in her wolf-form, howling menacingly as people ran away from her in terror (the smarter ones taking the opportunity to steal in the confusion; this was the City of Thieves, after all) and then grabbing a horse off the street. "DO I TERRIFY YOU?!" She shouted, her words nearly incomprehensible, leaving her mouth open as she finished so the horse could stare directly into where it would end up if she was actually as cruel as she seemed. Marceline could even see her own reflection in a few of her pristine teeth that jutted out at incredibe lengths; yes, she looked horrifying, but she could still see the sadness in her eyes. She doubted anyone would be able to, though. Well… maybe one or two people.

"NEIGH! NEIGH! NEIGH!" The Horse shouted, kicking at her fingers uselessly.

"ANSWER ME! SPEAK SENSE!" She howled even louder, now closing her mouth and grinding her teeth, the sound that of a thousand swords being struck together at once.

"I JUST SAID NO THREE TIMES YOU CRAZY WOLF-THING!" The horse screamed in anger, and Marceline dimly realized that it was indeed correct. "Now let me down!"

"Hmmmm…" Marceline murmured, trying to think of other ways to kick her love of terror into gear. "Deal. You can be my steed." She transformed into her humanoid form, floating gracefully as the horse dropped and landed safely, immediately sending a sassy gaze her way.

"Yo what? Lady, I am no one's—" The miffed creature did not get a chance to finish his statement as Marceline slammed onto his back, smashing her bass into his butt afterwards. Rearing into the air and whinnying, the horse burst forward, Marceline laughing in joy as she felt the wind rush through her hair. Then, to add to the havoc, she extended her bass outwards, causing it to scrape against a nearby wall and fling sparks through the air.

While the main reason for her little trip to the city was that of causing cathartic chaos, she was also in the market for some nice, juicy reds, and makes sure to swipe anything colored as such off of the terrified denizens as they tried to dodge her and the rampant horse (whom she smacked in the buttocks every few seconds to keep up momentum). She directed the animal around a few loops, mindful to steal a bag to hold her loot, and finally took her leave, riding far out of the city before floating off the horse.

The poor stallion turned back to her, repugnant anger flashing across his countenance and his nostrils flaring violently. Internally, Marceline felt a stroke of guilt; even if he was a thief, no one deserved to be treated like that. Externally?

"Why the long face, you butt?" The Vampire Queen taunted, briefly morphing her face into a hideous wolf's head once more.

The horse reared in terror, panting as she changed back, and unable to stand her presence any longer, shouted, "You're sick, lady! Sick! I hope someone finds you and stuffs you back in the Nightosphere where you belong!" With that, he rode off quickly, and though Marceline had a half a mind to follow him and take her still blighting anger out on him, she did not move.

His words left a bitter taste in her mouth; she had, after all, been the one to take most of the terrifying demonic entities, some of which the Lich had released, and others which her dear old father had expunged into the world, and seal them away. Part of her desperately wanted to argue that she was not like them in the slightest, but she resisted that urge. Marceline had never been fond of starting arguments she wasn't sure she could win.

After slowly making her way to a little grotto she had taken residence in for the day, she laid out her prizes. But even as she sank her teeth deep into what she knew to be luscious, luscious reds, the taste was flat, and she soon found she had no real appetite at the moment.

Sighing, the distressed vampire leaned her back against the harsh rock. Her thoughts drifted to the people she had left behind; she wondered if Finn had finally given up, but had a sinking feeling that was unlikely. The thought of her friend's dopey, smiling face, brought a small smile to her own. With that image, she slowly drifted off to an uneasy rest.

* * *

The Morrow sat down within Marceline's cave, this time thankfully without any excrement marking its landing, and the hero, slightly morally-questionable-but-still-heroic-on-most-days-of-the-week dog, and highly chewable Princess leapt off the bird's back.

"Yo, eat some rats or something, but be back in like fifteen," Bubblegum commanded towards her steed, which nodded.

And then proceeded to scare the stuff out of Jake by screeching, "INDUBITOUBLY!" Before scampering off on its legs, but in reverse. The Morrow may or not have ingested too much experimental candy bio-mass at some point in its life.

The dog landed on his butt, his jowls rustling with shock, and questioned, "That freaking thing can talk?!"

Bubblegum nodded sadly. "Eh… he can shout that word, and that's about it." Jake and Finn both stared at her with blank faces, and she sighed. "Listen, I get it, the Morrow is weird. Believe me, I know. But going that fast while being that high is an ego trip, guys, and it's worth the occasional poop on the dress and his creepy staring."

"Point taken," Finn replied, despite having the feeling he was missing some meaning in her statement, and turned his gaze towards Marceline's house, Jake and the Princess doing so as well. It looked terribly empty and wrong, with the window shattered and basketball lying on the dock. "So, how we doin' this?" He asked, rubbing his side.

"…Huh, she actually DOES own a basketball. I've been meaning to ask her about that forever. Ahem, sorry, well, while obviously we want to have Jake catch her scent, we should probably look for… er… information," Bubblegum stated slowly, donning a smile showing she knew exactly how morally dubious she was being. Finn and Jake once again looked at her with mixed faces in return.

"Uh, are you saying we should snoop?" Jake asked, his eyebrows creasing. "Because I ain't a snoop, a Snoop Dog, certainly not a Snoop Doggy Dog, and not Snoopy either. Maybe Snoop Lion—" as Jake babbled, Bubblegum wordless mouthed "What is he talking about?" to Finn, who shrugged, used to rants of this nature and even more used to not understanding them "–so I'm not going in there and looking through her stuff. I mean, yeah, I've done it to the Ice King, but he's nuts. Marceline's on the level."

"I don't know, man," Finn replied, moving over to the house. "It's sketchy, but… maybe we could make some headway with Marcy if we actually knew what subject to bring up."

"…I guess," Jake mumbled, wrapping his arms around himself in multiple loops to physically voice his displeasure. Nothing about Finn siding with the Princess surprised him, though. Still… "Maybe we could figure out what she was doing with the Ice King that one time."

"…Marceline did what-now with the Ice King? That bozo didn't try to capture her, did he?" Bubblegum shot out, looking quite disheveled at the revelation, which came off as odd considering she was captured by him so often.

"Er, well, no, they were having a jam session. Or something," Finn replied, rubbing the back of his head; the memory still felt out of place, as if he could have very well dreamed it. "It was bizarre… we asked if she needed help, but she said no, but we stayed just in case. They ended up playing music together and Marceline got really emotional. Which happens a lot when she plays music I guess, but the Ice King being involved was weird. And every time we've asked her about it, she's been secretive. I mean, I figured she just was friends with the Ice King and embarrassed about it."

"Yeah, even if he was a decent guy back in the day, dude's a mad loony at this point. I've got more faith in my tush than that bozo," Jake added, slapping his buns for good measure as Bubblegum turned to him.

"…What do you mean by that?" She inquired, her scientific mind slowly beginning to piece together the puzzle the two buddies were too lazy and incompetent to solve. Suddenly, she blushed, and coughed. "I mean, what do you mean 'he was a decent guy back in the day?'"

"Well, you know how we have that holiday get-together thing come Yule-Tide times?" Finn asked, and Bubblegum nodded, memories of cuddling with Finn and pushing off the Ice King as he tried to join in filling her mind. "Well, we have those because of these tapes we found… turns out the Ice King actually used to be a cool dude. Hehe. Sorry, unintentional ice pun. Simon Petrikov was his name. He's been around for forever, I guess."

"…Pr-pre war?" Bubblegum asked quietly, her eyes wide. Finn and Jake shared a look, mutually creeped out as they usually became when the Princess got overly excited about a discovery. Both nodded, and she turned away from them, sighing.

"…I wonder if… they must know each other. From their past. I mean, Marceline's been around for… well, a good millennium, and Ice King has been around as long as I have…" She muttered to herself, smacking her head over and over again in annoyance at not putting together the connections earlier. Surely in between creating the perfect sandwich and tiptoeing (when not redrawing) the line of morality in genetics, she could have wondered whether or not two of the oldest beings she knew had ever crossed paths, and gathered information from there.

"Huh. Now that you mention in, I guess that would make sense. Maybe she met him before the crown replaced his brains with ice cream," Jake stated, nodding.

"Yeah, totally," Finn agreed, though he seemed to be contemplating something else entirely. "Hey, Peebles, how old are you anyway, then?" He asked, and Bubblegum smiled awkwardly. At first it appeared she might try to dodge the question, but instead answered him in a soft voice.

"…Well, in terms of actual years, 223 years old," She replied, Finn's jaw going limp while Jake's expanded to the ground and proceeded to roll off the dock, returning to his mouth a moment later sporting a fish he quickly spat out, along with a few gallons of water.

"W-wow," Finn muttered, stunned beyond belief as Jake attempted to scrub the taste of cave water out of his mouth in vain. He was well aware she was older than her physical appearance of 18, but now the phrase "too young" seemed much more acceptable, as much as he hated having heard it so many times. "Y-You've seen some stuff, huh?"

The Princess nodded with a tiny smile, no doubt running over a few of the more interesting moments in her mind. "I've been about this way," She said, sweeping over her body with her hand, "for half of that… so, lots of ruling. You know, the biz."

Jake turned to Finn and stared into his still shocked face, imagining his friend's thoughts. It must be somewhat liberating to know that she was apparently picky about her choice of suitors, though Jake had a distinct feeling there was something more to it than that.

"Hey, how long have you any Marceline known each other anyway, PB?" Jake asked with a slight bite to his voice, enough to draw a confused look from his brother, but the Princess did not seem phased.

"Quite awhile, I met her after I had been alive for around 50 years, when I was the equivalent of nine years old physically," She replied cooly, pointing to the house. "Anyway, we should get looking." Her voice held just a bit of Princessy authority to it, and per usual Finn immediately nodded, and made his way, but Jake was slower to do so, looking at Bubblegum once more before following his friend.

"WINDOW JUMP!" Finn shouted, leaping in through the window, while Bubblegum shook her head with a concerned sigh (that boy…) and walked in through the door, Jake following behind her.

"So, where we be peepin' for information?" Finn asked, using his hands as pretend binoculars while Jake took in a giant waft with his nostrils.

"Hey man, you check upstairs, we'll look down here," Jake said, rubbing his nose. "I've got her scent down pat, but you said she was upstairs before she left; maybe she was looking at something important." Finn gave a gung-ho thumbs up, and performed various acrobatics through the room and then up the ladder, including a wall run, triple flip, and running up said ladder with his hands. The Princess couldn't help but giggle at his enthusiasm and attempts to lighten the mood.

"Well, at the least, Finn's joviality seems to remain intact," Bubblegum commented as she scratched her oh-so-smooth chin, wondering where to begin.

"Yeah, I guess," Jake replied angrily, showing no signs of beginning to search, only stomping his foot on the ground as if waiting for something.

Bubblegum raised her eyebrow, and turned to the canine, with whom she usually had a very friendly relationship. "Okay, Jake, what's up? You're treating me like you usually treat LSP today," The Princess stated calmly, though she was feeling un-nerved. "We need to get looking for information…"

"I intend to, by asking you what your history with Marceline is!" Jake hissed, crossing his arms and glaring at the candy girl, who responded with a shocked gasp. "You've been bipolar about this whole shebang. First you didn't want to help, and now you're in her house trying to find her dairy of something! What is your game? You act like she's not worth helping because she's secretive, yet are obviously hiding something. Finn won't call you out on it, but I want answers."

The Princess sighed, biting her lip and gazing wearingly at the trapdoor as Finn's innocent whistling of the Heat Signature theme echoed through the house. "Listen, we need to keep this quiet," She began, turning her eyes back to Jake. "I-I apologize for being secretive. It's a hard situation." Jake nodded, content to let Bubblegum say her piece. Heh. Piece of bubblegum. Jake winced at how bad his pun was, and though the Princess seemed confused as to what his reaction entailed, she continued on.

"As I said, I've known Marceline for a long while. And… we've been very close for a long, long time. The reason I never bring those facts up is the same I've never mentioned my vast age to you. I am…" She gulped, taking one last look at the trapdoor and lowering her voice even further. "Significantly attracted to my sex, and in particular Marceline. We've had numerous run ins over the years, including a few recent ones, but time after time it fell apart because of me and my duties. It's… hard."

Bubblegum frowned severely, a sniffle escaping her, and Jake's relatively large displeasure quickly faded. "She, as it were, blamed herself for being pushy, but I can't help but feel it's less that and more her inability to just let anyone in. I tried so many times to talk to her about her past, but… she refused to, claiming that if I couldn't make time for her, she shouldn't have to reveal herself to me."

"Sucks, dudette," Jake replied solemnly. "So, you're trying to figure out her past by coming here?" Bubblegum nodded sadly. "Well, I kind of figured there might be some lesbo-loving (Bubblegum's blush was truly something to witness as Jake said this) going on between you two, so that makes sense. Also explains how you managed to fend off my main man and his macho moxie for so long," He finished, nudging the Princess in the arm.

"I've come close to telling him many times," Bubblegum replied, at obvious ease that Jake was understanding of her situation, yet falling once more into distress at the mention of the young hero. "But… no offense to Finn, I didn't know if he could take it. I also didn't want to make things awkward between them." Jake nodded, but then froze, his eyes widening. The Princess raised any eyebrow, but grew quiet when she realized the whistling of the boy in question had halted, and no sound was coming from upstairs.

"…Oh glob, go check on him, he could have heard," She whispered, putting her face into her hands, and Jake nodded, stretching up to the trapdoor to find Finn sitting with a small collection of items in his lap, and his hands over his ears.

Upon Jake's arrival, he removed them, and asked, "Are you guys done?" His expression was calm, but he obviously seemed hurt, well aware that two of his closest friends were being secretive around him.

"…Sorry man, I…" Jake began, feeling his marvelous yellow body sag with regret at his friend's angst, but Finn shook his head, silencing the dog.

"Man… too young," He whispered, his face getting all blooped out. "I get it." Jake frowned, wrapping his arms around his buddy and bringing him downstairs. As Finn plopped onto the ground, he held out the items he had collected, but before he could speak, Jake interrupted. "Listen, PB, I'm not keeping my bro out of the loop, especially when he's going on this trip alone. We need to fill him in."

Finn frowned, looking between his friends, his heart guts a little messed up. On one hand, he hated being left out. On the other, PB looked scared, and he didn't want to put her through that. He tried to come up with something to say, or maybe some funny exclamation to relieve the pressure in the room, but before he could the Princess spoke.

"I suppose you're right, Jake," Bubblegum whispered after a long minute, rubbing her pink arm. "Finn, this might be hard to fathom, but…" She walked over to her friend, putting a comforting hand on his arm. "Marceline and I, um, used to date. As in, we were together." She stopped speaking, letting her blunt words sink in, hoping he would be able to understand, but he just stared blankly.

"Yeah, I know," Finn replied nonchalantly, and both Jake and Bubblegum started.

"W-What? You knew?" She asked, extremely positive up until this point that her champion (she liked calling him that, regardless of the tackiness involved) had more knowledge of differential equations than of her tense relationship with the Vampire, and Finn shrugged.

"Well, yeah. After the whole Door Lord thing it was pretty obz," Finn replied, smiling slightly as he realized that for once he was on top of a personal situation, rather than crushed under a mountain of Nightosphere bananas per usual. "I didn't bring it up because you guys both seemed really awkward about it. Why, is that what made her run?"

"I, I don't think so," The Princess responded, though the look on face made it clear she considered it a possibility. "And, um, thank you for not mentioning it. The fewer people who know the better." She gave Finn a weak, forced smile, equally dismayed at having not trusting him to understand without any hesitation on her part and at having to discuss her relationship with Marceline, something she had guarded to a fault.

"Wow, dude, proud of you. You have some serious social tact goin' now! I knew dating someone who would set you on fire if you stupided up personal junk would set you straight!" Jake said, slapping Finn on the back, who simply grinned.

"Anything for Peebles and Marcy," The hero replied, Bubblegum blushing at his words. "Alright, while you two were blabbering, I found two things worth mention; Marceline's journal, and a picture of what I think might be her Mom." He held both out, the Princess immediately snatching the journal and pouring through the opening pages quickly and then looking at the picture.

"She never really mentioned her mother to me," Bubblegum whispered. "She looks just like Marceline…" Finn's face sunk as he watched PB's reaction, the Princess now openly letting her feelings loose rather than hiding them. It was clear she held a great deal of regret for the current situation.

"Hey, you can keep the journal, and read through it!" Finn said, patting her on the back, trying to find other words to comfort her. At a loss, he said with firm conviction, "And don't worry PB, it'll be okay."

"…I don't know," The Princess whispered, clutching the journal tightly. "I'd feel bad reading it, but… I guess I have to." Finn and Jake could visibly see the battle between the hunger for knowledge and desire to help her love, and her hesitancy to take advantage of Marceline's absence on the candy girl's face. "Just, just bring her back, Finn. It scares me when she leaves like this."

"No problemo Peeblo, I will get her back. And read it if you want to… Marceline would understand, I think," Finn said in an attempt to be soothing, the effect mixed. Understanding her unease, he coughed, and said, "We should probably head out, then." Jake and PB nodded, following the boy's lead as he made his way to the door.

"Morrow! We're good to go!" The Princess shouted as they stepped out on the dock, the bird quickly arriving in their field of view bouncing on the water like a over-sized pebble with wings until it landed on the deck, buns down.

"Sheesh. And I thought I was a weird animal companion," Jake muttered, shaking his head as the Princess's tweaked out avian righted itself. "We should head out of the cave, and then I'll point Finn on his way. Wish I could go, but puppies, man." Finn nodded, patting his friend on the back, while Bubblegum cleared her throat to grab their attention, and then reached into her bag.

"Uh, actually, Finn should just take this. It will direct him towards Marceline without fail," The Princess said, pulling out a weird purple object that looked like a magnet, and slowly twisting it until it began to make a whooshing sound. "When it does that, it… means… that's the direction to go," She finished lamely as both of the males stared at her, incredulous looks upon their faces.

"P-Bubs? What the lump! We just came here for nothing then? You had that the whole time?" Finn shouted, wincing as the Princess's face turned sour. "I mean… look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. It's just, getting strung on sucks." Finn didn't intend to use wording that invoked his awkward attempts at courting, and smacked his head when he realized his error. "Just… if you had wanted to come for her diary, you should have told us."

"Dude with the golden-locks speaks the truth," Jake quickly chimed in. "I mean, your thing is probably a hundred times more efficient that our full-of-holes plan, but still."

"…I know, guys, I'm sorry I've been such a patoot," The pink Princess lamented, her shoulder's sinking. "I've just felt stuck, unable to actually appear like I care to the degree that I do without questions getting asked. I'll try to be better in the future, and I hope the tracker helps out." She handed it to Finn without another word, though gave him a small peck on the cheek, immediately drawing out a blush. "Good luck Finn. I really am sorry."

"I know, Princess, it's okay," He whispered, hugging her gently. "Mind flying me out?"

"Not all," She said with a smile, and they boarder the Morrow which promptly flew out of the cave and landed on the grass. "Good luck Finn!"Bubblegum shouted as he leapt off, Jake echoing her sentiments as the human boy ran forth, weird purple Marceline-finding instrument in hand, waving at them. He had a good feeling about this adventure, and now had even more reason to succeed. Yep, things were definitely looking—

SPLAT. Finn desperately hoped, the moment after he collapsed to the ground, leveled by some gooey substance from above, that what he thought had happened hadn't actually happened. His fears were confirmed when Bubblegum screamed, "GLOB BLARG IT MORROW, ARE YOU LUMPING SERIOUS?!" from high above. Perhaps looking forward was a better bet than looking above. Unless you liked wearing Morrow stuff as makeup. Yeesh.

* * *

_Writing this chapter was going really well until the Marceline section, where I hit a roadblock (making good people do bad things in fiction is difficult, as dumb as that sounds). Thankfully the muse hit again last week, so here it is. I'll try to make the next chapter a bit shorter so I can have it up sooner. I don't want to bring up the idea of a schedule, but I'd like to be hitting somewhere around once every week for updates, and not have gaps longer than two weeks. _

_So yeah, the Morrow really weirds me out, as you might have guessed. I have no idea why, but it made for decent comic relief._

_Besides the obvious Marceline plot, I'm kind of scratching at the theme of Finn maturing in this story, at least in some respects. Also, I guess this is officially AU since Finn won't be back for the puppies being raised. And I'm not sure quite how much PB is going to tie into later chapters. We'll see. Thanks for reading!_


	5. Murmurs Of War

**Review Responses: **_I usually do these through PMs, but wanted to try it out in-fic for a change._

**He23t**: _I am glad! It took a few edits, but I like the end product too._

**thisisagoodname: **_Yeah, I love FP, but she can come off as bland. Most of her intrigue comes off from her raw destructive ability/naivety, though I think the plotline with her potentially being evil could lead to some interesting stuff. I don't think I wrote her too well, but she isn't really a factor in the story so I'm not too sad in that regard._

**mukyuuuu**: _Your kind words made me try to get this update done early! I usually write romance as a focus, but in some cases I felt like doing so negatively affected my writing… so here it's not! If it's underrated as a result, I don't mind. I'm having more fun writing this than I have had in awhile, and am immensely happy others enjoy it as well!_

**Zephyrphym**: _Thank you! I plan on finishing it, and I think the places the story ends up going will be very cool. Hopefully._

**Chapter 5: Murmurs Of War**

Per usual, Finn remembered every item he had forgotten to bring at precisely the moment he had ran far enough that going back wasn't a reasonable option. Highlights included a tent or some covering, a backscratcher, and a method of transportation that wasn't him running. The latter sucked the most dragon nips because he had also conveniently ignored the fact that he had just gotten discharged from the hospital yesterday. He was a little achy as such, but thankfully years of adventuring, a (though not exactly healthy) nutrition laced diet, bun punching exercises and lots of Pilates and Yoga with Peebles had built him into an endurance machine.

"…Mmmm, Pilates with PB… yogurt pants…" Finn murmured, immediately realizing his error and smacking himself across the face. He was pretty harsh about being monogamous in all essences. Which was difficult because he spent most of his time saving princesses. But still, fidelity was a number-one hero rule. Right up there with no double-dipping and handcrafting all birthday cards.

Getting back to the task at hand, Finn sat down on a rock within the forest he had been traveling through, and reached into his bag to pull out the weird instrument Bubblegum had given him to find Marceline; he had donned it the Marcy-Polo, after the game he and Jake had played growing up. Though the name was a horrible, horrible pun, it was better that than constantly referring to it by its physical features.

"Okay, Marcy-Polo, am I goin' an m'kay way?" He said, twisting the magnet like object around until the whooshing sound became prominent. "Hmmm… right near… aww, stale pastries, not the City Of—"

"THE CITY OF THIEVES!" The hag finished on cue, suddenly rocketing out of the ground and straight into Finn's lower half. He landed with a plop, groaning and reaching for his more delicate regions. "Ooooh. Hit in the Boingloings," She muttered, giggling a little as she realized where she had struck him.

Finn, with a growl (and his hand cupping his banana and trail mix), leapt up and shouted, "DANG IT LADY! You scare me like that one more time, I dare you! My girlfriend's made of fire, bro! She'll mess you up!"

"UGH, you're dating a Fire Elemental? Not only are you stupid, you have bad taste… see ya!" The hag replied before running off, cackling. Finn shook his head, tenderly rubbing his assaulted privates. He hadn't even gotten to the city yet and he had already gotten his Boingloings smacked around. And if he WAS going to go into the city, he would need to hide… well… everything.

He frowned, biting his lip, until an idea clicked into his mind. Quickly, he began to search for old leaves on the ground, and when he had gathered a good amount he pulled out his old sewing kit. Things were about to get very, very fresh. And natural.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Candy Kingdom, an ill omen approached Bonnibel Bubblegum. The messenger himself being a very odd creature, prone to alternative gardening and death metal drumming, unknowingly about to run into an old acquaintance.

Peppermint Butler hadn't really expected any funny business when he had answered the castle door that night; it was a fairly routine operation, after all. Perhaps some other royalty, or a candy citizen, or Finn and Jake would waltz in, say hi, and be off on their business. No one unusual doing anything out of the ordinary. However, as he opened up the door, he found himself staring into a familiar serene white skull, and quickly felt his body lift off the ground and be pulled into a tight squeeze.

"Pepper-mutha-lumpin'-mint Butler! This is where you're working now you crazy little man?!" Death exclaimed as he hugged the candy-servant, who quickly returned the embrace with a chortle.

"Death! You should have told me you were heading over! Oh, we could have had dinner somewhere nice… or just chewed on something anywhere really, I guess, this being the Candy Kingdom," Peppermint replied as Death gingerly lowered him to the ground.

"Nah, I'm here on strict business; no reapings though, so don't worry," Death replied, staring up at one of the castle's towers, that with a small sense of unease Peppermint realized was the Princess's. "Just need to discuss some matters with the Princess. But I might take you up on that offer for dinner after. I like getting some mortal food every once in awhile, even if it does go right through me." He stuck his hand where his non-existent stomach would be to drill in the joke.

Peppermint burst into laughter, shaking his head in disbelief. "Whoo, you haven't lost a step. Deadzone running well?"

"Skeletons are a pain in my boney butt to talk to, seeing as all they talk about is fudgin' flesh," The powerful entity muttered as they began to walk through the castle, attracting many stares and inducing more than a few explosions, each causing the butler to wince. "But hey, I run my own business and have free time galore, so I can't complain. Also, I've been seeing this cute number from the mortal plane."

He held up a picture of Skeleton Princess dressed in a one piece bathing suit, bent over in what Peppermint assumed was supposed to be a seductive pose, Death shaking his head in glee as he looked over her curves, or, perhaps more accurately, jutting angles.

"You should see her in her birthday suit, so thin," The skeleton continued, putting the picture back in his pocket. "I can see her ribs and it turns me AWN! We're bonin' too. Good stuff."

"Righteous, righteous," Peppermint replied, shaking his head in fondness as he remembered all the long nights escorting dames to Death's chambers. There were some real characters to choose from when you had every female who had ever died to woo. He distinctly remembered the night Death had asked all the wives of this really old king (Henry the 8th, Peppermint believed) to have a slumber party, and though he could never quite weasel WHY out of Death, somehow all the women had possessed detachable heads and had gotten into a fight with them. So, a pillow-fight. But with the heads of the participants. Radical. "It's been too long, sir," Peppermint said wistfully.

"It has man, you were the best," Death replied, patting the mint's back. "Now that I know you work here, I'll come up to this plane whenever I have to discuss something with Bonnibel rather than have her come down. I haven't found a secretary half as good as you, by the way, since you left to help Abadeer repair his relationship with Marceline. Heh, speaking of cute undead babes, MarceLINE. She still tense 'bout the fries?"

"Eh, it was a deeper issue than that, really," The candy-man muttered, years of trying to reason with father and daughter flowing back to him vividly. "But they were in a better place when I left them, and I think they've gotten even better since. When the Candy King and Queen passed on, I felt obligated to help raise the Princess. Hunson agreed, knowing all too well how important child-development is. Poor guy. Ironically, Marceline and the Princess have had a few…" He paused and looked around cautiously. "A few flings. Keep that on the down low though, partner."

"Doesn't surprise me. Marcy always has had good taste," Death replied, taking the secret in stride and smirking at his friend's revelation; even after three hundred years, they were still open as could be. "I loved jamming with her, and she brought back a nice babe once in awhile. Crappy taste in men, though, which probably explains why I could never wax my charms on her. I'm waiting till that smug prick Ash gets axed and gets his butt sent down to my realm. He's stolen so many chicks from me with necromancy. What a tool."

"I've had a few run-ins with him myself. Definitely not my favorite wizard," Peppermint added. "He turned my red stripes blue once."

"Yeah, he does crap like that all the time, but at least he's no Malus." Death spat out the name with venom, and Peppermint's faced darkened heavily at the mere mention of the deceased Vampire King. "I've had to reinforce the Dead-Zone he's in at least 15 times. 15! I have no idea how Marceline took him down, let alone what she saw in him, but thank goodness she did. Er, thank goodness she took him down. Heck, might still be some humans left besides that one noob if Malus had never reigned. Fresh off the Mushroom War, you think I would get a break, but noooo." The skeleton shook his head, the memories obviously getting to him.

"…I've only heard stories," Peppermint whispered darkly. "Lord Abadeer was very, very uncomfortable with him, but eventually went along with Marceline being his queen as it was tearing such a rift in their relationship. Obviously she's never admitted it, but we both know who was right on that one."

"Yep," Death replied, shaking his head. "Malus was nearly as bad as the Lich. I think worse, actually. The Lich is pure evil; that's like his day job, as weird as it is to think of it like that, just like mine is to reap the dead and put 'em where they ought to go. Malus had a choice, and he went as bad as you can go. I've seen a lot, man, but dang. That was some messed up junk."

"…Did Marceline know?" Peppermint asked tentatively, voicing questions he had long wished to discuss with Hunson. "She can be difficult, but such a sweet girl…"

"The worst was over before they got together," Death replied softly, his beady eyes narrowing at the thought. "And he played her, hard. Took every angle, poor thing. Probably had a few spells going in his favor, too. Bastard knew damn well that his people could survive without human blood, but he wasn't going to stop the feast. Hunson wanted his girl to be evil, yeah, but not vicious. And that's all that turd ever was. I can still remember her face, the day after she vanquished him. I think it took her at least a century to move on."

Peppermint sighed softly, imagining the regret and terror. "But look at us! This should be a jolly time, two friends reconnecting. We need to stay in better touch, my brother," The candy butler said, trying to soften the mood, and Death nodded, though his gaze seemed far away.

"We do, we do. Sadly… I wouldn't call these jolly times…" He trailed off, frowning as if he had said too much.

Peppermint coughed, and bowed. "We're here, sir," He stated, hiding any of his concern as he did so. Death nodded, knocking on the door firmly.

"Keep watch. This shouldn't be overheard. If you do, no probz, cause you're the man, Pep. But this is big stuff," The skeleton whispered, turning back to the door as it opened.

Bonnibel Bubblegum, dressed in a pink, airy nightgown, immediately frowned at Death's presence. He never brought good news, and he also happened to be pretty pervy. Still, she knew he must have an important reason for appearing, especially considering he had never even come to her; he had always made her journey down to his realm, a trip she had much loathed every time she had taken it. "Death," She stated cordially, bowing ever so slightly.

Death simply grinned at her reaction, saying, "Princess Bonnibel," before walking into her chambers without permission. "It's funny; you mortals think I like coming here to bear bad news. As if I don't realize the moment someone sees me they feel nauseous, crippling fear. I come to try to help move lost souls to their rest, or provide pertinent information, and that's the reaction I get."

Bubblegum shared a concerned look with Peppermint Butler before motioning for him to close the door, the candy man doing so quickly. As she turned to Death, who was occupying her balcony, she spoke regally. "I apologize if I seemed unhappy at your presence. It is kind of you to give the higher powers of Ooo knowledge of future catastrophes. It's just…"

"No one likes to die?" He whispered mystically, the effect multiplied by him facing away from her. "It's not so bad, really. But I understand, I try to be lenient. Your friend; the last human. I gave him a pass the other day."

Bubblegum frowned at his words, turning away from him herself. "Thank you for not taking Finn. I appreciate it."

"Hypocrite," Death muttered, drawing a gasp from her. "If anything, I thought you would have detested me for making exceptions. But I liked the humans. It was only a few that ripped their world to shreds. Still, it was only because a certain Vampire Queen asked me to be… generous in any case of him finding mortal peril that I refrained."

Bubblegum felt her throat tightening at the mystical being's words; it was obvious he had a point to make, Death would not come to Ooo simply to lambast her. "…That was very kind of Marceline," She whispered after a few moments had passed, hoping Death would leave the subject and move onto another, and not answer the question lingering in the back of her large mind.

Nope.

"She asked me to do the same for you, Bonnibel," He mused, finally turning to face her, she turning as well to match his gaze, her thoughts racing from the revelation. "Was quite helpful, and probably bought you those thirteen years after the Lich had possessed your body, rather than a little Dead-Zone to call your own. Isn't that sweet? I can tell from your face that she never told you. Always painting herself as the villain, that one…"

"Listen, Death, if you have business with me, then let me hear it," Bubblegum snapped, tired of being baited, and desperate to avoid any more mention of Marceline. "But if you're just going to stand here and—"

"I'm giving you advice, Princess," Death spat, his tone harsh and utterly devoid of anything resembling warmth or life. "Life is precious, and rather than sit in your lab and toy with it, maybe you should grow to appreciate what's in front of you more." She raised an eyebrow at his words before her jaw dropped in shock.

"H-How do you…?" She murmured, bringing a shaking hand to her forehead. Death simply shrugged.

"I'm Death, dude. I know mad ish," He replied casually, his voice returning to its usual nature. "Helps that I'm tight with her Dad, too. And though it's been fun watching you squirm, I didn't come here to give you relationship advice."

From outside the door, Peppermint smirked. Just like Death to help out in the most annoying and bitter way possible. He felt bad for his charge, but the Princess no doubt could use the skeleton's wise words, regardless of if she agreed with that notion.

"No, I came to warn you; the Lich is back in Ooo," Death stated bluntly, Bubblegum and Peppermint both immediately freezing in fear.

"…He… Glob dammit, how?" She asked quickly, knowing that time was of the essence whenever the Lich was involved.

"Eh, P-ris… that's Prismo, B-T-dubs," Death continued, clarifying as Bubblegum raised an eyebrow. "Got bored of having him trapped in his realm. Dude's got a point, not really his problem to solve, and the Lich just kind of stares at you when he has nothing to kill. It's flippin' creepy. Good news is that he separated Billy from the Lich before he sent them back; old fella's recuperating in his cave. You should probably give him a visit. Winkety wink wink."

Bubblegum nodded, well aware that Death was giving her much more information than he was entitled to by universal law. "Thank you for the information, hopefully we can stop him from wreaking havoc."

"Yeah, I hope so too," Death deadpanned (ZING). "I don't want to tell you how much paperwork and chaos that would be. And he's planning something pretty grizzly. You ever heard of any of the wars on Earth, before the Great Mushroom War?" Bubblegum nodded slowly, wondering where Death might be going with this. "Well, they had this one; The Great War, they called it. It was a mess. You know trench warfare? Brutal. Tons of dead. Long story short, they said it would be the end of war, that no one would ever be foolish enough to start something like that again. Fast-forward a few decades, and guess what happened? World War II."

Bonnibel felt herself shaking at Death's words, and it took her a minute to compose herself to the degree where she could respond. "You… you don't mean…"

"I've said more than enough, Princess," Death replied, beginning to walk toward the door. "Find the Lich and stop him. You don't have the defenses to circumvent what he's planning to launch at you." Without another word he slipped out the door, handing a small slip of paper with a time and restaurant listed to Peppermint as he closed it behind him.

The Princess simply sat in awe, wondering what on Ooo the Lich could be planning, as miles away a strange darkness crept through the grass-lands, visible only from the full moon's light. With a small hiss, it realized it was tantalizingly close to its target; an epic Tree-House, just visible on the horizon.

* * *

_Surprise! I felt bad about the gap between the most recent update and the one before it, and I came up with a cool angle to work in a key part of the story, so early update! Even better news, I more or less have another chapter of about this length done, so that should get posted tomorrow (or today, depending on when this update registers). Huzzah! (YO, PUT THAT BAG BACK ON!)_

_Anywho, some important plot deets got dropped in this chapter. I really like to explore a fiction's canon and fill in blanks that intrigue me as I write within it, and there was a good deal of that going on in this chapter. Along with some grim foreshadowing. _

_Which was offset by the puns. Yogurt pants? UGH. And the boning line killed me. Heh. A pun within a pun. Sorry. I'd say I'll try to cut back, but honestly I make them without even realizing it half the time. _

_I really had fun writing Death in this chapter; despite his limited appearances, he's one of my favorite characters from the show, and I enjoyed bridging the gaps between him and Peppermint Butler. Wrote of my favorite moments so far in this fic; the Skeleton Princess bit and the Henry the 8__th__ gag. If making yourself laugh is the sign of insanity, then I am waaaay gone. Thanks for reading!_


	6. The Nude Thief

**Chapter 6: The Nude Thief**

"…Is that a leaf skirt, Finn?" Penny asked as she recognized the young hero making his way through the City of Thieves, discomfort present in both his face and gait.

"Kilt," Finn replied firmly, desperately trying to resist blushing seeing as he was completely naked besides his leaf ski—kilt. Kilt. It was a kilt. He had dumped all his belongings far away from the city, digging a small hole and placing them in it before covering said hole with a rock. It was necessary, as spending an hour or two drastically under-clothed was better than spending the rest of the adventure that way. But still, Finn hated people seeing him without his hat on, let along without virtually everything else, and as it was getting to be nighttime and therefore quite cold out, his nips were budding. Mad awks.

"Hehehe, looks nice…" Penny whispered as she eyed the kilt, her fingers moving in an obvious thieving motion as she slowly moved toward him.

"This is all I'm wearing. You steal it, you see my ding dong," The boy said flatly, praying to Glob above that a threat of that nature would keep people from taking his kilt. It seemed to work on Penny, who immediately blushed and ran way without saying another word.

And so it came to pass that Finn the Human Boy sauntered around the City of Thieves awkwardly, taking note of signs of destruction and trying to find someone who looked sane enough to question, all the while shouting, "If you take off my kilt, you'll reveal my boingloings" as a deterrent. To the surprise of no one, this gave him a pretty large radius to work with, and no one made an attempt at a swipe. Even thieves had their limits, apparently. Eventually, he came upon a horse, who eyed his kilt hungrily.

"Tasty apparel you got there," The horse muttered, Finn vaguely remembering it from his first stint inside the city, something about stealing an item as it was bathing.

"Boingloings," Finn replied simply, the horse wincing.

"Oi, what a creep," He muttered, Finn sighing at the measures he was being forced to take, and then clearing his throat.

"I might be willing to part with it," He replied, eyeing the horse's towel wrapped around it hoof, "if you would tell me what happened here."

"No can do," The horse replied, shaking his head, his eyes sticking to the kilt the entire time. "This is the City Of THIEVES. Not the city of barter. I could just tell you though."

"Oh. Really?" Finn asked, and the horse nodded. The hero thought that kind of made sense. Well, not really, but considering visiting the city had required him burying his belongings before-hand spoke volumes as to how bizarre this place was.

"Yeah. Marceline the Vampire Queen is what happened. Hussy came, terrorized us, and rode me out of the city. Sucked, man," The horse said angrily, stomping. "I mean, yeah, we're all stinking thieves, but we don't deserve that."

"…Nah, you don't," Finn replied, his heart sinking. How could Marcy do such a thing? Then again… she was pretty amoral at times. But still. Just causing havoc for the fun of it? He wondered how messed up she was feeling in order to act as such.

"Anyway. I'm gonna steal your…" The horse grew quiet as it noticed the leaf kilt at its feet.

"Thanks for the towel bro!" Finn said as he walked away, gripping it to his waist as if his life depended on it and moving quickly until he was well out of the city.

* * *

"I need to head north…" Marceline murmured as she swooped in lazy loops through the night sky, another of her favorite activities failing to instill any sense of comfort within her whatsoever. At this rate, the only thing she hadn't tried was playing her bass, but she knew that would lead to tears. And she was quite done crying at this point, regardless of whether or not it involved red onions, one of her favorite reds.

"…Maybe I should find someone to hook up with," She said playfully to herself as she whooped down into the forest where her small grotto lay. The idea was slightly appealing; a chance to get emotion out without any long-term consequences. Except, even with her rocking body and obviously wondrous personality, she hadn't changed clothes since she had left because she didn't have any clothes to change into (and had been too dumb to steal any whilst in the city). And while she didn't sweat much at all, just moving through the world had already given her clothes a rather rank odor. And finally, people just took too much… effort.

"Whoohoo! Free clothes!" Came a voice from below her, and Marceline raised an eyebrow. That wasn't what you generally heard when flying over a forest. She flew towards the sound and into the canopy, coming across a goblin rummaging through a stash of clothes and other items that, based on his face, were clearly not his.

"Dude, no thieving outside the city," Marceline chided before she could stop herself, the goblin leaping in fright and making a sound that could only be described as a raccoon imitating an operatic aria.

"Oh, just some stupid floating girl," He muttered as he took a closer look at her, smirking in blissful ignorance as to who he had just irked beyond belief. Marceline frowned, and didn't bother correcting the moronic goblin. Time to figure out whether or not beating the pudding out of someone who deserved it would make her feel better. Pity she didn't have her bass. Looks like he was keeping his limps, the lucky lumper.

Noticing the look of simultaneous anger and excitement on her face, the goblin gulped, perhaps now realizing his error in insulting a Vampire, or perhaps, as he looked like a pretty stupid goblin, actually realizing that she WAS a Vampire, as if the fangs, bite marks, and the fact that she was floating hadn't been indication enough. He managed to squeeze four words out before his decimation: "Hey, what are you—"

Of course, Marceline could have simply flown into him. That would have probably been the most efficient way of taking him out. But no, she wanted this to be a SHOW. So, she dropped down onto the earth, pushed off by means of her thin but powerful legs, sped forth at the speed of a freight train, and crashed her fist into the goblin's stomach. Causing him to spit up a live chicken, that began squawking loudly and immediately replaced the tension and rage with a solid dose of awkward silence.

Marceline regarded the chicken with a confused look for several moments as the goblin groaned, clutching his stomach, before she shrugged, picked up the fowl, and sucked the red out of its gizzard, the poor bird shrieking in terror and running off as she released it from her grasp. Thankfully, it would find a better life in a traveling circus of animals with color-based oddities, and live out its life sleeping as children stared at it during the day and jamming out on electric keyboard at night.

"Hmm. Tastes like pizza," Marceline remarked, licking her lips, smirking as she turned back to her prey. "Wish goblin blood was red so I could take a sip… or chug." She then lifted him off the ground by one of his arms, and heaved him as hard as she could diagonally, the dork screaming in terror as he flew. "Phewww!" She whistled, admiring her work as the goblin's ascent resulted in many a branch breaking; in fact, after the thief had breached the forest's canopy and was lost in the night sky even to her enhanced vision, she happily realized that she had made a nice little hole with which to view the stars.

Things seemed to be looking up until she realized she no longer had a goblin to pummel. "Cripes," She muttered, floating over to the stash the goblin had been inspecting. "I hate it when my moral compass gets effed up… I just saved somebody's, er, clothes, I guess, from getting stolen, and got to beat someone up too. AND I FEEL GREAT ABOUT IT. Whoo! Go Marcy!" The Vampire threw a few fist pumps in for good measure, a technique she had mastered after experiencing many a concert mosh-pit. Even if she was partially overdoing it to keep the feeling going, she couldn't deny the act had raised her spirits.

"Wonder what else is in… here?" She whispered, her voice fading and her eyes widening as she picked up a white hat. A very, very familiar white hat. She began to dig fiercely though the pile, her eyes falling upon a very familiar looking blue shirt. Stark realization began to hit the Vampire before something else grabbed her curiosity. A purple magnet? Marceline stared at it, wondering why on Ooo Finn was carrying it around and what it even was, turning the ends to face her without even realizing she was doing so as she contemplated the object...

"WHOOOOOOSH!"

"SWEET FRIES OF MY PAST!" Marceline screamed, dropping the item in terror; whooshing sounds had always freaked her out. "What… what the heck is this thing?" She muttered, poking it tentatively as it lied on the ground. "This is definitely Finn's stuff… but… no." She narrowed her eyes, feeling rage build within her fists, a desire for a new goblin to smack around overwhelming her. More like a certain candy Princess to smack around.

"Bonnibel made a Marceline-tracer, that shrewd witch," She hissed, raising her hand, about to smite the unholy device. Until she froze, tilting her head and thinking it over. "Actually, that's kind of sweet. As much as I hate to admit—"

"I am ready to get out of this towel. As nice as the breeze feels, being half naked in public is weird," Came a voice from nearby that Marceline immediately recognized as Finn's. Without thinking she grabbed the device off the ground, and became invisible, floating a good height above the ground.

Moments later, Finn appeared, clad only in a towel; a very small towel at that. Marceline put her hand over her mouth and blushed at the sight of the human boy nearly nude; he was so pudgy, it was adorable. "Well, that went alright, I guess… hopefully she's still around somewhere nearby," He said to himself, coming up to his ditch, and Marceline frowned, knowing that he was definitely looking for her. She watched with a slight tinge of sadness as the boy realized his stash had been broken into, and then blushed hard when he unknowingly dropped his towel as he sprinted over to the ditch.

"Oh, crap…" He hissed, looking up and squinting at the ground. "Goblin tracks! Dangit, I didn't think there would be any goblins around… guess Jake was right. 'If you burry something, a goblin will steal it.' I didn't think it was that literal though." Marceline tried to watch him dig through the pile of stuff with only one eye open, and her hand held in front of her to block out Finn's private regions. Some distant part of her realized that watching him dig around in a ditch butt naked was pretty hilarious, but she only felt embarrassed and saddened.

"…Huh, looks like everything's here," He whispered after a moment, sighing in relief. Until a sudden thought crossed his mind, and he looked down. "…Oh no no no, where is it… where's the Marcy-Polo?!"

Marceline glared at the instrument she held in her hands, mouthing "Marcy-Polo?" in disgust. That was an all time bad pun; heck, it barely even made sense. She had half a mind to fly down and kick Finn in his stupid naked butt for naming it that. And for following her when she had told him not to. Marceline frowned, that thought instantly sinking her mood.

"Dang it! No! I can't believe it… the one thing I couldn't lose, and I… Glob…" Finn curled into a small ball, sniffling. Marceline felt guilt wash over her as he slowly broke down in front of her very eyes. This stupid purple thing meant more to him than having to make his way through all of Ooo buck-naked? More like she meant more to him than that… but no, she had to stay away. She would just hurt him.

That argument fell flat as she watched the young hero being hurt directly by her absence, rather than her presence. "Darn it…" He muttered, striking the ground feebly. "I failed. That was it. I have no way to find her. I fluffed it up. Peebles will be so sad… and Marcy. I can't believe I failed her." Marceline knew that if she didn't leave soon, her resolve to stay unseen and silent would break. His words were really taking a toll on her heart; she could tell, because she already wanted to make a song about how terrible and gut-wrenching the feeling was.

"…Oh, Finn…" She whispered softly, much too softly for him to hear. Marceline held the Marcy-P, Glob dammit, the instrument up to her face, wondering whether or not she could find a way to drop it somewhere he hadn't looked yet. As she began to argue with herself, knowing that doing so would be aiding him in helping find her, she let the Marcy-Polo get a bit too close to her face, and…

"WHOOOOOOOSH!"

Marceline managed to hold back the exclamation, but was unable to hold onto the device; it slipped from her hands as it whooshed, and landed with a dull thump on the forest ground, breaking a pinecone. A pinecone that would be forever scarred by her clumsy Vampire fingers, good for so many things besides holding purple items when whooshing sounds were made.

Finn fell silent at the noise, slowly lifting himself up after several seconds had passed and moving over to the device. Marceline held her breath (a task always made easier when you can't breathe) as he approached it.

"…Whoa, the Marcy-Polo," He whispered, squatting and poking at it a few times, as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "How did… wait, it fell. And it went off." Marceline crossed her fingers as the hero's face settled into a thinking countenance, his brow furrowed and his fingers rubbing his chin. If there was ever a time for Finn to be stupid and not put two and two together, it was now.

"…THAT MEANS MARCELINE IS NEARBY!" He shouted, suddenly twisting this way and that and looking all around him. "Marcy! Marcy! Marcy!" He said again and again, until she finally sighed, lowering herself to the ground and reinstating her visibility.

"Hi, Finn," She whispered, causing him to spin toward her in amazement.

"Marcy!" He shouted, running forth for an embrace but quickly halting as she extended her hand and winced.

"Dude, please, put some pants on, or at least the towel. No hugging me with your boingloings dangling," She said flatly; nothing could make this situation more awkward than him hugging her while naked. Well, what if she was naked? Marceline smacked her forehead. These were not the thoughts her messed up brain needed to be having right now. When she lowered her hand, she witnessed Finn completely and utterly stunned.

"…Mai boingloings?" He whispered in terror, his eyes widening past the point of his lids actually touching his eyeballs as his pupils slowly lowered to confirm the truth. When he did so, he raised his gaze back towards hers, a plethora of bizarre and nearly unintelligible thoughts running through his mind. The one he settled on before fainting from pure shock, and uttered in a horrific, gravely whisper, was, "I guess now we're even."

With that, the young boy collapsed on the spot, like if someone had placed a few gravity-independent noodles on Ooo and had suddenly made it so that they were affected by gravity. Yeah. Just like that. But without the marinara.

Marceline winced as her friend fainted, shaking her head in disbelief. If there was ever a time to run, it was now. Dealing with her past and emotions with Finn was a bad enough prospect, but now she had to cope with the fact that she had seen him naked (pretty nice view though, eight out of ten), and when he woke up would have to deal with him freaking out about her seeing him naked.

Still… with a grunt of anger at her weakness, Marceline flung the towel over the boy's crumpled form with telekinesis. After another moment she thought better of it and moved his body into a shape that actually condoned rest, though she imagined he would wake up shortly from the cold. Somehow, despite his nudity, the awkward scenario that had just unfolded, and the fact that she was spitting in the face of her desire to stay away from the young hero, she felt comfort at his presence. The fact he had travelled to the City Of Thieves mostly naked to try to find her was also… well, odd, but sweet. Swodd? No, no, that was a horrible attempt at adjective creation.

"You weenie," She muttered, stretching and relaxing into a nice float, exhaustion both mental and physical seeping in. "I can't believe you just flashed me your boingloings like a thousand times. You owe me." Marceline smiled slightly, just a small curve of her lips; the kind her face made when she felt true happiness. "Whatever that entails, we'll see tomorrow," She whispered, turning away from him and lying her head onto her hands.

* * *

Far, far away, in the realm of the Ice Kingdom, the Ice King pulled back from his telescope, shaking his head in disbelief at the non-fiction gold he had just witnessed. "You know, Gunter," He began, pulling out a notebook marked only with the word "Aaa!" upon it. "I think Marceline and Finn are just friends, but I am DEFINITELY writing that scene with Marshall Lee and Fionna and shipping the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks out of them! Forest love, baby! Forest loooove! Gettin' funkee with the moss, diggin' yo fingers in the dirt, ya know what I mean Gunter?"

With a loud "QUECK!" the oft tortured penguin launched himself into his master, their two skulls colliding. The Ice King's crown flew off his head as he fell unconscious, while Gunter wobbled around for a moment before succumbing to head-trauma himself, hoping that his brave act might induce small-scale memory loss and save the world from witnessing whatever messed up ish the monarch had been concocting.

* * *

_I almost expanded this into a longer chapter, but then I would have had to cut out the bit with the Ice King at the end, which I just couldn't bear to do. _

_I didn't want the story to run too long without Marcy and Finn reuniting, since they are the core of the story, and as such, they are reunited! I will reiterate they are not being shipped. You can expect some romantic tension on par with this chapter, though; small moments where Marceline teases Finn, or when their friendship bleeds a little bit into something more. _

_My muse has been kicking like a bottle of Cholula (so spice, so spice!), so I'm going to ride the update train as long as I can. Thanks for reading! Ps, Boingloings. _


	7. Rendezvous

**Review Responses:**

**He23t:** _Thank you!_

**thisisagoodname: **_If Marceline had been trying to get away from Finn, she could have. But she figured he wouldn't be able to locate her in short notice, and also assumed that after the knife-storm incident he wouldn't come chasing after. She thought she had made enough distance, and is also at this point not at her best mentally. And I'm glad you got a chuckle out of the FP moment!_

**LittleRedRiddingWolf:**_ Thank you! Sorry for the delay, though._

**mukyuuuuu:** _I mean, since it's an AT fic, the humor is kind of mandatory for me, even in really emotional situations. And when things get more dark, I like to use the jokes to balance out the emotions, if that makes sense. It's a weird balance._

**The Nephilim King Michael: **_Thank you!_

* * *

**Chapter 7: Rendezvous**

"…Humana? Did I fall asleep while looking through the ice-box again?" Finn muttered as he lifted himself off the ground, shaking at the cold digging into his entire body. "And… why am I almost naked?" The dark of the forest gave him no answer, so the confused boy propped his chin on his head and thought for a good minute before his noggin pieced things together.

"Oh, right," He whispered as everything came back to him. His calm disappeared when he realized he had unintentionally flashed Marceline, but that thought was over-ridden with the urgent need to make sure she hadn't left in the night. He squinted through the night's veil, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

Eventually, he caught a glimpse of a pale arm, and sighed in relief. He waited until his vision grew even more accustomed so he could confirm she was asleep, andwhen he realized she was (she was actually snoring worse than Jake did, which made him giggle), he quietly removed his towel and made his way to his stash, dressing as quickly as he could.

Finn let out a sigh as he finished, glad he was no longer nude around one of his closest female friends. He distantly wondered what time it was, but had no real way to tell, so after some silent calisthenics, he decided to forage for eats.

"Gotta make sure I get back quick, don't want her to wake up while I'm gone," He whispered, finally finding a moment to smile brightly. He had done it! Somehow! He had caught up with Marceline! He had no idea what came next, but after the despair of thinking the Marcy-Polo was lost, he certainly felt rejuvenated.

And so, with a little skip to his step despite a growing sense of numbness from the cold and some exhaustion, he started to look around the forest. Finn had always been good at scouring the wild for food (and good climbing tress), and as such within five minutes, he had acquired a plethora of berries and some rather ridonkulous items for Marceline to munch on. The red items being a hammer (…well, he thought the handle was red, though it was pretty orange), a rubber ball, and a slightly rusty bike, which had happened to have a basket he used to carry everything else.

Sadly, the bike was well beyond even being pushed on its wheels, and as such he had to lift it. By the time he had gotten it back to the little encampment of his ditch, he was still pretty much just as cold as he had been, more tired, and now laced with stank-o-rific sweat. Like, even the Marauders would have been hesitant to take a whiff.

And sadly, the sun was coming up, so he wasn't really going to get much sleep. Oh well. His youthful endurance would get him through the day. He parked the bike, yawning, and checked to make sure that Marceline was still there; indeed she was, though she seemed to have rolled over, and somehow had disheveled her hair despite the only thing touching it being her hands.

He immediately smiled at her presence before his eyes widened; a little bit of sunlight was already peaking through some random hole in the trees, and was very close to touching Marceline. Knowing what that would entail, Finn immediately weighed his options.

Waking Marceline up could work, but she looked quite content sleeping, so he decided he would just… drag her down.

Cue ten minutes of Finn leaping off the ground and attempting to grab some part of Marceline's body, at one point propping up the bike and trying to leap off it to gain more air (which had only resulted in some glorious crashes).

By the time he had actually managed to grab a hold of her, pulling her downward by his weight and letting go once she was well away from the hole's beams, he had caused more than enough racket to wake virtually anyone he knew. Thankfully, Marceline was apparently a champion of sleep, as she barely stirred the entire time, even when he had grabbed onto her foot.

How could he know she was knee deep in some of the weirdest dreams one could have without sipping on the juices of the Elder Toad?

Content and tired, he collapsed to the ground, using the towel as the smallest blanket of all time, and quickly drifted to sleep.

* * *

_"I'm just saying, what if we WERE dragons?" Bubblegum asked with a mouthful of spaghetti, a stray meatball falling from her mouth. Marceline, her head lying snuggly in the candy girl's lap as they reclined on the Vampire's couch, caught it with her ever-dexterous tongue, saving her nose from an impromptu meeting with the meaty ball._

_ She quickly swallowed, rubbing her belly in satisfaction, and the Princess blanched. "Ugh… Marceline, that is so distasteful," She muttered through a badly concealed smile, the Vampire simply laughing in return, having hoped that Bonnibel would reply as such. _

_"Actually, it's pretty good! Who would think meatballs and bubblegum would be a winning combo?" Marceline asked with a giggle, her tongue slowly creeping upwards towards Bubblegum's mouth with the intent to snag some more._

_ Before her ingenious plot could be completed, Marceline's door flew open. She quickly turned her gaze to find her father dressed in… a hot-dog suit? The Vampire immediately blushed at his presence, especially amidst her and Bonnibel seated so… intimately. _

_"Just got back from the dentist," Hunson replied while stretching, his limps twisting this way and that as he did, and then beginning to walk over to the two girls. "I have no idea how this hot dog suit is supposed to stop X-rays. I tried to tell him radiation ain't a damn thang to us demon gang, but you know. Dentists. Only thing more evil than me, amirite?" He winked gaudily, which was somehow what set his daughter off the edge._

_"DAD, PUT SOME CLOTHES ON YOU DORK!" Marceline screamed, leaping off Bubblegum's lap and mortified at what the Princess must be thinking. "I'm so sorry… Lady Rainicorn?" _

_The Lady stared back at her blankly, the Princess and her delicious… uh, spaghetti nowhere in sight. The Rainicorn then pointed her horn outward, and began to turn the entire house red, completing this task before Marceline could even begin to protest. With a smile, the flying-color-creature said something in Korean, and though Marceline only spoke English, German, Swahili, Jive, Ancient-Vampiric, Modern-Vampiric, 80's Funk-Vampiric, and Giggle-Ocity-Quatro, she somehow understood the sentence as, "Now you can eat your house, you dingus!" _

_"…Wha?" Marceline asked, confused beyond belief, though incredibly tempted to follow through on that offer. Her house looked mad tasty._

_"Hey, yo momma should be here soon…" Hunson muttered, his arm snapping at 90 degree angles until his wrist and therefore watch was in front of his face. _

_"…Mom is… Dad, what on Ooo…" Marceline muttered, her fingers pressing into her sprawling hair as she often did when confused. "And why are you speaking… well, it's not Jive, but it sure isn't how you usually talk!"_

_"Eh, changing it up a little," He said with a shrug before both were immediately drawn to a polite knock on the door. There stood a thin, petite and pale woman donning a worn but warm smile. Her raven hair, identical to Marceline's besides it near-floor-length, swayed as she entered the house._

_"Hello Marcy, hello dear," Ella said softly, placing a delicate peck on Hunson's face, the monstrous near-deity blushing in pleasure, and then placing a hand on Marceline's shoulder. The Vampire's jaw was firmly unhinged, but Ella didn't seem to notice. "Are you excited for our family play date?" _

_"…Yeah, Mom," Marceline whispered, swallowing in disbelief, her willingness to go on with the bizarre proceedings increasing. "What are we doing?" _

_"Jump ROPE!" Hunson screeched demonically, his face ripping apart as he did s and taking both ends of Lady Rainicorn in his hands before rushing outside. _

_"Mind shape shifting Marceline? I promise I'll keep you off the ground," Ella said calmly, obviously amused by her husband's antics. _

_"…Sure, Mom," Marceline whispered in reply, much to in shock to argue with the logical gaps surrounding her. The Vampire shifted into a thin, noodly shape, and her mother carried her out and starting spinning her in circles while skipping. It was an odd sensation, to say the least. Kind of like an amusement park ride, but with the added danger of getting your face smacked into a dock._

_"How have you been, Marcy?" Ella asked as she kept a steady jump. _

_The expected difficulty of speaking while being used as a jump rope somehow non-existent, Marceline replied, "Um… good." It was a red-hot lie and she knew it, but Mom always got so concerned when she lied, and she made this depressed face…_

_Marceline couldn't see Ella's face for obvious reasons, but still had the sinking feeling her mother didn't believe her. "I wish I could be around more, Marcy. You know how much I love you. You know I don't think you're a monster, right?"_

_Marceline would have stiffened if doing so was physically possible; this wasn't right. _

_"It's just…" Her mother continued before the Vampire could come up with a logical retort. "I'm dead." _

_Those words were most definitely true, and Marceline blushed furiously at their pain and at her forgetting reality. Perhaps her Dad had brought Mom back… but no, that didn't make any sense, and—_

_"Oh sweet Abraham Lincoln, these hot dogs are going everywhere!" Hunson shouted in glee, as sure enough a hot-dog pelted Marceline in the face, causing her to fly out of her mother's grasp and onto a cold surface._

_"…Uh? Mom?" She muttered as she lifted herself up… in some kind of… icy cavern? Marceline became aware of where she was, and started looking for an exit, her brain's floppy gray matter way to smacked around to deal with—_

_"Marceline, what do you think the better name for our band would be: My Undead Icebox, or Cold Dead Love," The Ice King asked, wearing enormous, shiny red sunglasses and a red leather jacket. He slowly began to dance and shout the words "Thriller! Chiller, yeah!", pushing the Vampire queen way past her limits of watching the Ice King mocking his former-self. _

_Fighting back the urge to hurl, the Vampire Queen went to fly out the mountain's window… except rather than fly after leaping, she just fell. Marceline let out a blood curling scream, but strangely felt no impact; when she opened her eyes, there was only gray. _

_"Marceline!" Came a cry from behind her, and she turned to see none other than Finn the Human running toward her, concern filling his boyish face. "I heard you screaming, are you alright?" He asked, pulling her into an unexpected embrace that she took without thinking. _

_Marceline sobbed into him for a moment before she could speak, feeling very shaken."…I don't know, Finn, I'm just kind of—"_

_"Finn? Silly Marceline. The name's MALUS, don't you remember?" A thick voice she knew all too well speaking, rather than Finn's fluffy, light tone. Rage pouring through her, she pushed away from him, barring her teeth and throwing out her claws, only to blink in surprise._

_There, laughing his lumpin' butt off, was Ash. "Whoooa! Mar Mar! Can't believe you fell for that impersonation. This is why you needed me… so easily set off!" He teased, sticking out his tongue at her violently. _

_Marceline took the same course she had the last time Ash had reared his ugly mug into her life. She pummeled his balls. _

_With a firm kick to his nether regions, the wizard gasped in pain and flew high into the air, Marceline whistling as she admired her work. "Pheewwwww!" She whistled, picking her nose. "I don't think that wiz is coming back down."_

_"Toying with elementary mages? My, how far you've fallen, Marceline," The thick voice came again, the Vampire turning all too quickly to silence Ash, only to come face to face with the voice's true owner. _

_There, in all his horror, in all his evil, stood Malus, his twisted grin and blinding red eyes digging into her. His gray cloak held most of his lithe, nearly scythe-like form, but his gaunt, silver complexion and ruby hair remained outside its grasp._

_"…You're not real," She immediately murmured, grasping her side and avoiding his glance. "I just need to…" _

_"Pathetic," He whispered, slowly moving toward her. "You defeated me, and yet still can't face me? Do I terrify you so much? Or do you regret your choices…"_

_Marceline sent a blast of fire his way, which the Vampire King deflected easily with a wave of his hand. "…Not at all. Killing you was the best decision I've ever made, you monster," Marceline spat with confidence her heart didn't quite agree with, her eyes scouring the emptiness surrounding her. With a sinking feeling, she realized she had no elements to use in her favor. It was just her, and Malus. Nothing about the statement bode well. _

_"…Oh, Marceline. So ahead of yourself. The 'Vampire Queen'… what a joke," He whispered, his voice a menacing whisper akin to the creaking of shutters in an abandoned house. He continued to walk in her direction. "Do you remember what we used to call you? Stormchild, Marceline. Because you had no home, no hope. And when I gave you one, by my side, how did you repay me?"_

_Marceline halted her attempts at finding a route of escape or an edge in combat, her shoulder's slumping as the memories filled her head. Being so, so alone… and then being with someone who she thought had cared. Being with Malus. And then, having to end him…_

_"…I hated what I had to do to you, Malus…" She whispered, her front falling and her eyes growing moist. "I thought… I thought you actually gave a damn…"_

_"Oh, I DID!" He shrieked, his fist suddenly flying forward and sending her into the air. She landed with a thud, clutching her stomach with a grimace. No wound lingered quite as heavily as one inflicted by Malus. She had scars to prove that._

_"I gave you everything, and how did you repay me…" He whispered in a harsh growl, his eyes conveying every bit of his hatred. "You chose that buffoon over myself. Tell me, was it worth it?"_

_"…More that worth it," She replied in defiance, smirking as she wiped the blood from her face. "Finn is… you don't even know, how vindicated I've felt, Malus. I know I made the right decision. Killing you was the best choice I've ever made, as much as it hurt." _

_The thin slits the Vampire King called eyes narrowed to the point of close as he scowled, raising his hand out in front of him. "Pity, Stormchild, that you do not remember your place. As I promised… I will take what you hold dear…" _

_Marceline waited for the blow, but when none came, she peaked open her eyes. The sight made her heart sink; Finn, already bloodied and bruised, clutched in Malus's powerful hands. The cracking of bone already was greeting her ears, as the Vampire King lowered his mouth. _

_"I'm sure he will taste delicious…" He whispered, his teeth suddenly rearing outward, Marceline throwing her hand forward._

"MALUS, NO!" She shrieked, immediately sitting up as she awoke, breathing heavily. "…Oh, Glob, oh Glob, just a dream… just a dream…" Marceline whispered to herself over and over again, holding her body tightly. Her mother and Malus in the same dream? What a bloody nightmare…

"Huh? Marcy?" Finn murmured from below her, sprawled out like an octopus doing yoga and still half asleep, but slowly gaining consciousness.

As foolish as it was, nearly as foolish as the time she had bet half of her hair in a poker duel, Marceline immediately swooped down to him, checking for injury. Though he certainly hadn't been unfortunate enough to have a run in with a Vampire King (or a torrent of knives) and was free of scars or wounds, he was shaking heavily in what she realized was cold.

"…At least he's wearing clothes," Marceline muttered, sticking her finger out and shooting a bolt of fire into the ground, lazily moving stones to contain the small flame and then leaves to sustain it with telekinesis afterwards.

"Morning, Marcy," Finn said, flailing his noodly arm in a wave, his eyes blinking open as he yawned lightly. For a moment he appeared just as chilled, but gradually realized the source of heat beside him. "Ooh, a fire!"

"Yeah, your buns were quaking in chilliness, so…" Marceline shrugged, tinges of happiness ringing at how appreciate he was. "I lit a little one. Sorry, should have thought about it last night."

"No probz!" He replied, beaming brightly, Marceline returning the smile, but just barely. "Um, I got you some red stuff, if you're hungry." He pointed to the bike, and though Marceline had plenty of reds back in her grotto, she figured obliging the shaking teen would be harmless.

The Vampire floated over, downing the hammer with a hum of satisfaction, and then tossing the ball over near Finn; that would be dessert. With a lick of her lips, she sank her teeth into the bike. Before she got too far, though, she noticed a few berries Finn had no doubt picked for himself, and ripped off the basket from the bike, floating over to him and dropping it in his lap.

Taking the hint, Finn began to eat as she resumed her meal, both sitting in silence as they filled their empty and rumbling bellies.

"Not bad picks," Marceline muttered as she finished the ball, licking her lips in satisfaction.

"I tried," Finn responded, wiping his face which was covered in red berry juice, like he had head-butted through a jello-monster. He fell awkwardly silent, swallowing and looking away from her before saying with concern, "You look tired."

Marceline immediately tightened up; it was an unspoken rule of their friendship that Finn refrained from commenting on her p-biz. He had gotten the message that doing so was messy after he had released her father from the Nightosphere, and it had held true through a number of circumstances, and considering she was already on edge about the fact he was even in her presence, she felt more than a little annoyed at his statement.

"I had a rough night," She replied honestly nevertheless, her voice flat. "Bad dreams." She couldn't bring herself to say how vividly they had involved him.

"Sucks fireballs. I'm sorry," Finn replied, his head peaking back toward her. "I had a dream I started a business where I taught pigs how to fly. Until Princess Bubblegum stopped me, because apparently doing so was causing it to rain cats and dogs. I was a little confused."

"Pfff, Finn, you're bonkers," Marceline giggled, shaking her head in disbelief and feeling her hesitation melt away. "I mean, I'm no scientist, but jeez. How did you get them to fly?"

"Umm… I think it was like, magical slinkies or some wiz," Finn replied with a smile, shrugging. "Jake wanted to turn them into helicopters."

"Of _course_ he did," Marceline laughed, turning to face the boy, noticing he was shaking less. "You warmer yet?"

"Gettin' there, thanks again for the fire," He replied, scooting closer to it (and just slightly closer to her) and sticking his hands out, giggling as he stuck them through the flames just quick enough to escape burns. He loved doing that with FP's hair.

Marceline watched him with amusement, his light-hearted joviality already rubbing off on her. However, soon enough the matter at hand came back to her, and she found herself grimacing, the images from her dream returning, as did Jake's words. How long before she led him to pain that wasn't reversible?

"…Finn, what did I say about following me?" She asked despondently, rising higher above him, aware she could make an escape right now. Part of her wondered whether or not he would try to snag the Marcy Polo before she could take it herself, but either the thought didn't strike him, or he rejected it.

Instead, he sighed at her words, his face scrunching up as it did when he tried to talk about important stuff, life emotions, taxes and dragon-slaying. Well, mostly emotions.

"I know, Marcy, and I'm really sorry I didn't listen to you…" He replied slowly, not moving and staring into the fire. "But I only did because… you're just driving me crazy!" He leapt up from his criss-cross-apple sauce seated position, moving away from her as he tugged on his hat's juts in frustration.

Marceline froze, having only seen Finn act this enflamed when experiencing romantic troubles. Still, she remained unspeaking, wanting to give the boy his say after refusing to the last time he had tried, albeit only doing so because she didn't want him to get caught in another knife-storm and wanted her own justification for pushing him away. At least more than a dream's worth where he got eaten by her ex-husband.

"You act like you running away is going to help me somehow or something, but look at me!" He shouted, turning around and pointing to his face, torn apart from emotion. Marceline regarded him blankly, allowing him to continue, though on the inside she was slowly crumbling. "And even if it does save me from getting hurt, I don't care! I can take it! Obviously you're hurting, I can see it on your face, and your pain matters just as much as mine does!"

"I know about the knife-storm, Finn," Marceline whispered quietly, her expression unchanging as the hero winced and his argument's traction collasped. "You nearly killed yourself chasing after me. It's not like this is my first rodeo, holmes. I've been through this so many times…"

"…Like with the Princess?" Finn replied, Marceline nearly falling out of the air in shock.

"…Um, yeah, I guess, kinda. You mean Bubblegum…?" She murmured, trying to play off her bad reaction, but Finn shook his head.

"I know about you two." Marceline's eyes snapped open at that, scouring his face for his feelings about her feelings for the pink girl. Finn smiled and waved his hand in dismissal of her fears. "Don't worry about it, it's cool. I knew after the Door Lord but only talked to Peebles about it recently. She's worried about you too," Finn said softly, extending his hand out.

Marceline regarded it with a soft stare, her fingers twitching in want. "She's an example," Marceline eventually replied, locking her hand into a fist. Glob, why was he making this so difficult? "I'm tired of hurting people, Finn." She growled, her words failing her.

"Then let me help! The knife-storm happened BECAUSE you ran way, floob it!" The poor boy fell down to the ground in exhaustion, over-exerting himself after little sleep and bad sleep at that. "What do I need to say?"

Marceline's teeth pressed into each other in frustration as the boy pounded the dirt in anger. Whenever she thought about the conflict, two separate images symbolizing it flew into her mind: the first being Finn's face awash with tears at her absence and failure to help her, the second being that same face a bloody pulp on cracked pavement.

They both SUCKED BUNS, and she couldn't come up with an answer than made sense. So, she chose what was the more convenient of the two at the moment. And the one she wanted the most, though she feared it. But like hell she was going to show that kind of emotion, even if she was saying yes.

"I can't get you to leave, can I? You'll just keep chasing me," She barked blatantly. It wasn't really a question, more of a statement. Finn nodded slowly, standing up shakily. "…Then you can come with me on three conditions," She whispered after a long minute of consideration, turning away from him.

"What are they?" Finn asked; he was going to agree to them regardless, but wanted to hear them.

"The first is that if you get seriously injured, you will listen to me, let me take you home, and then leave me alone," Marceline hissed, suddenly swooping down and leaving only a foot of space between them, her eyes glowing red with demonic power. He was slightly afraid she was going to beat the tar out of him that very instant and use it as an excuse to take him back, but thankfully she continued.

"The second is that I decide where we're going, how we're getting there, and what we're doing once we get there. And the third is that you leave my p-biz alone… if I want to talk to you about that junk, I'll let you know." She ended with her eyes narrowed, blinding red light burning within them. The intimidation tactic did not work.

"Sounds great!" Finn said with a worn smile and overly-optimistic thumbs-up, Marceline glaring daggers at him for a few more moments before turning with a sigh. "Where are we going anyway, Marcy?" He asked, the Vampire's spine tensing at his words.

"North," Was all the reply he got before she was out of his sight; soaring away at high speeds or invisible, he knew not.

"…Man, I better not blop this up like with Goliad," He muttered, lying down for another nap, feeling shaky but relieved. He was more than content with sleeping for as long as he could.

It had waited three days to recover from the journey; moving such distances was a bane to dwindling energy reserves. Thankfully, as it lurked under a rock within the basement of the Tree-Fort, its patience appeared to be near a payoff.

"Okay, I'm going to go cook for Lady! Or maybe get take out, I don't know," Jake's voice sounded from above. "I knew chicks got weird eats when they were preggers, but where am I supposed to get a set of Komodo Dragon tonsils this late at night? I'll probably just scoop up some Candy Kingdom chocolate dirt. Be back soon BMO!"

"Sayonara Jakey-boiii!" BMO replied, and the evil lurking beneath the rock chuckled at its prey's ignorance.

It waited for a few more minutes before acting, and when the time was right began to float toward the ceiling, slipping through a crack in the floor with ease. And there in that very room sat its target, the little robot looking into the window and chattering on with itself.

The cloud of black, unholy smoke floated closer and closer until BMO finally broke from his fantasy with Football (they had been discussing whether to work on paper mache or fencing), just catching the menacing image in the window's reflection.

"Stop! Who goes there!? I know karateee!" The console shouted, its angry expression quickly shifting to one of terror as an otherworldly cold descended upon the room.

"I am going to consume you now," The Lich whispered hungrily into BMO's mind, the twisted shadows of its essence already pressing into the robot's limbs.

Many beings simply broke at the sight of the Lich, unable to speak a single word, let alone a common phrase. But BMO was a champ, and left with a zinger.

"…Ice… Ice cold like TV dinner," Was all BMO could get out before collapsing face first into the wooden floor. An hour later, after much sparking and pain, the robot's body would rise, exit the Tree-Fort, and begin marching its now cursed metal feet north.

However, the Lich was wholly unaware a disgruntled and angst-ridden Vampire (who was currently flying through the night while kicking herself for not being assertive) was aiming to travel exactly where it was.

* * *

_This was pretty much chapter 4 on repeat in the sense that it did not want to get written. Thankfully, despite being back at college I was a bit more persistent this time and the delay wasn't too long. Still._

_A lot more foreshadowing, and a tripped out dream sequence! I tried to put a decent amount of the dream into the rest of the chapter, but subtly. Other than that my big concern was nailing the dialogue between Finn and Marceline._

_Next one should be out sooner. Thanks for reading!_


	8. A New Lease, A Short Leash?

**Review Responses:**

**The Nephilim King Michael: **_I was actually worried about the dream sequence, so I'm glad you liked it!_

* * *

**Chapter 8: A New Lease, A Short Leash?**

"Thanks for taking me to see Billy, Jake," Princess Bubblegum said as she sat upon Jake's back, the dog dashing through the open grass and making his way to the cave of the hero he totally didn't have a massive bro-crush on. At all. Nope. For not the first time (though this time was albeit much more tongue in cheek), Jake had to remind himself he was in a stable, puppy-expecting relationship.

It wasn't that he would ever slip up, but he knew how scattershot his brain was and would rather commit the ultimate sin of wrapping bacon in broccoli than betray his beloved, so necessary precautions were being taken. Never knew when a lost water nymph would try to crash your house (that actually had happened last night and, he of course had turned her down, so she had slept in the pond).

"No prob PB. You sure you're doing okay though?" The dog replied, showing his concern by physically twisting his head back toward her, and immediately after running into and over a pine tree. Bubblegum smiled sadly, rustled his fur (knocking a few pine needles as she did so), and then pushed his head back forward just in time for the dog to swerve away from a boulder.

"Keep looking ahead silly, I'm fine," The Princess replied dishonestly, a skill her long years of ruling had sadly instilled within her, nuzzling his ears as he ran. She flipped the subject quickly. "The Lich returning is a huge problem, but hopefully one we can head off. Would be easier if Finn was around though."

"Yeah, that's generally about the same for anything. Cept cooking," Jake replied, twisting his head this way and that to maximize the satisfaction his ears were receiving.

"Originally I was afraid his chances with Marceline were low, but I'm sure he'll pull through… somehow…" Bubblegum muttered in reply, shaking her head. Indeed, she did have faith in Finn, though admitting that he was better suited to help Marceline that herself was a bit of a tough pill to swallow.

"Hey, PB, how often does she run off like this?" Jake asked. Marceline, from his perspective, was a little impulsive, and while he shared that trait and respected it, he wasn't one to up and ditch everyone he knew without sufficient explanation.

"She's done it quite a few times over the time that I've known her… as you might imagine, it angers and worries me every time she does so," The Princess replied. "Sometimes it's a steady build of emotions and circumstances that sets her off, other times it's just one event. I've little clue as to where she travels; all of my attempts at sending my banana-guards to track her have been gigantic failures. The Nightosphere seems like an obvious guess, but I doubt Marceline would want to run back to her father when already feeling bleh. It's most likely somewhere else from her past."

"Makes sense," Jake replied, unsurprised the Princess was so on top of the situation. Suddenly, he began to slow his run to a jog, and shortly after halted all together. "We're here. I'm glad Billy's alive… when I talked to Prismo he told me he was dead." They had indeed arrived at the location of the hidden cave, which the Princess promptly opened by lifting the sword out of the ground as the magic dog shrank down to normal size. Jake was initially confused as to how she knew how to open it, but shrugged it off; it made sense that the monarch had knowledge of Billy's residence.

"Did he? I suppose Billy will explain," Bubblegum said as she stepped into the tunnel. They walked for a short time until they came across the cave itself, immediately searching for the elder hero.

"Sorry 'bout my digs lookin' like the bad side of a Cyclops," Came Billy's voice, their gaze quickly finding the giant, who was lying down on a bed in the corner. They gasped in horror, Bubblegum simply raising a trembling hand to her mouth while Jake's began to water immediately as their eyes scanned his many injuries, but Billy only chuckled. "Den again, guess I'm not one to talk, heh?" The many gashes, black cracking burns, and general scarring on his body agreed. In many places the bone and flesh shown through.

"…Sweet Glob, Billy, we need to get you…" Bubblegum began, but was instantly interrupted by the fallen hero.

"Nah, Princess," He wheezed, speaking clearly very painful for him. "I'm close to leaving dis world behind; that loser finally did a numba on me I can't recover from, being old as dirt to begin with. Heck, I was dead. Death owed me a favor though, and gave me a bit more time on Ooo, so I could warn you about da Lich and his plot."

"…A true hero, right till the end," Jake whispered, thick milky tears pouring from his eyes. The poor dog could barely take the sight of his idol mauled and barely hanging on. It had been bad enough, seeing such an epitome of goodness caught in the Lich's grasp. "We'll stop him, Billy!" He pledged, and a worn smile graced the hero's lips at these words.

"I know ya will, buddy," The hero replied, raising a thumbs up that managed to warm Jake's heart, despite the lack of skin upon the thumb in question. "I take it you and da Princess are here for dat information?"

They nodded solemnly, and in return Billy, his titanic hands gripping his sheets in a stranglehold, began to shift into sitting position.

"Billy, you don't have to! Please rest," Bubblegum immediately pleaded, but Billy ignored her, continuing until he was fully upright.

"Actually, Princess, lookin' at you like dat was hurtin' my neck," The adventurer said with a worn smile, patting a very visible gouge on his neck to further his explanation. "I hope my information will help…" He continued, his eyes falling.

"Billy, there's no reason to blame yourself for what happened," Jake said quietly, trying to console his hero. "The Lich is one bad mutha lumpin' monster."

Billy smiled again, reaching his arm out and patting Jake on the head. "Your words bring me much relief, man's best friend," The giant said kindly. "But I have already kept you too long… we must discuss da Lich."

Both the Princess and Jake nodded once more, and Billy began. "While I was dead while the Lich was possessing my bod, upon coming back to life I had some latent memories, or at da least feelings, of what he had been thinking when he was all up in my guts. I don't remember much… but I think he's after some kinda machine. He needs it to use something else… I think it might be a bomb of some sort. Nuthin good. Other than that, all I remember is dat he's obsessed with heading north."

"…A machine, a bomb, and he's heading north…" Bubblegum repeated, scratching her chin as her mind raced like a rocket-propelled racecar powered by the cuteness of puppies. "I think he's too weak to take his normal form, so he must intend to take control of someone…" She frowned, realizing the information was too scant to form anything near a conclusion.

Billy immediately frowned as her face fell, sensing his words were of little help. "I'm sorry I can't remember more…" The hero murmured, a stray tear forming in one of his eyes.

"No, Billy, it's spectacular you were able to remember anything at all, let alone find a way to come back to tell us," The Princess replied quickly; Billy had already been near the tail end of his career once she had taken the throne, but he had served Ooo dutifully and she had the utmost respect for him and his services to the land. She also thought he served as a great role model for Finn in a land often lacking in them.

"It's just…" She continued, biting her lip. "From that, I'm still not sure how to proceed. Is there anything else at all you remember?"

Billy's face scrunched in concentration, his eyes sealing shut as he searched for any scrap of information. "…The machine," He said at last, blinking. "I think it was… alive somehow. Kind of… greenish in color."

His words drew only silence as Bubblegum and Jake's eyes slowly found each others, realizing the other was having the same fear.

"…Billy, does the name BMO ring a bell?" Jake asked with a gulp, and after a moment Billy nodded.

"…I think that might be what he called it," Billy replied with a sorrowful nod, reading from their faces that this was not good news. "Go. It sounds like you now have a lead. And don't bother coming back, guys." The old hero smiled as they frowned deeply. "My time's about done, and I'm going out with a bang. I ordered enough pyrotechnics yesterday to make the Fire Kingdom blush. It's the next best thing to croakin' in battle, and I'm just happy I get to go out my way, rather dan getting murked by dat old crusty fart."

Bubblegum's eyes widened at the thought of one of the greatest heroes Ooo had ever seen having such a (in her eyes) inappropriate burial, but Jake spoke before she could voice these displeasures. "Sounds boss, my man. I'll see you in the yonder. Tell my folks I say hi, and thanks for the help." He bowed deeply as he finished, and while the Princess still looked incredibly uncomfortable, she played along, bowing as well.

"It was da least an old guy like me could do. Tell Finn I'm proud of him, Jake, and it's his turn to take up the mantle," Billy said in parting, and with a nod Jake turned, the Princess following him. They were silent through the walk out of the mountain, and Bubblegum only voicde her displeasure once she had mounted him again, the dog immediately setting course for the Tree-Fort.

"I wish he wasn't doing this, it seems so…" She murmured, unable to compose her thoughts.

"I know how you feel, but for heroes like Billy…" Jake replied, smiling as a tear sailed into the wind. "You want to go out with a—"

A humongous explosion rang out from behind them, both immediately snapping their necks back to see the word BILLY flash into the air via fireworks as the mountain his cave resided in promptly exploded; somehow, a shout of "BILLY!" akin to the one in his theme-song rang out as well. Their jaws hung low for a moment as they processed the loss of the hero, along with his epic means of departure.

"With one of those," Jake said brightly, and Bubblegum coughed, embarrassed she had gotten caught up in the spectacle.

"Er… I think I will receive a standard burial, but I believe I understand your point," She replied matter o' factly. "At any rate…"

"I hope BMO's okay," Jake whispered, finishing her sentence for her. "I haven't been back since yesterday…" They didn't speak again until after they arrived at the Tree-Fort to find the door wide open, the air rank with dark magic, and their friend BMO nowhere to be seen.

* * *

In only a day (er, night) of travelling with Marceline, Finn had become very aware that the Vampire was either very mad at herself for giving into him, mad at him for pushing her to do so, or both. Regardless of which it was, he was nearly getting the silent treatment, and desperately trying to come up with ways to lighten the mood.

At the moment they were camped out in a small cave located midway up a mountain; before Marceline had stopped talking to him and started only replying in one word answers (if not shrugs), the Vampire had laid out their travel plan, it being a fairly basic one. They would travel at night (for obvious reasons) until it was growing close to dawn and then she would find an area, be it a cave, forest, or whatnot, with good covering from the sun, where they would then make a makeshift camp.

Finn had always had a decent directional sense, and after sensing from this and his knowledge of Ooo's terrain that they were going south, had asked Marceline why, since she had stated they were going north. This had elicited a shrug, so he figured that she was going somewhere else first. Or that she was purposefully avoiding her actual destination until she was convinced he wouldn't heed her and leave.

Finn had to admit it wasn't going to be the best of adventures if it continued as it was going. Falling asleep while flying wasn't exactly easy for him, and he had always hated sleeping in the daylight, so he already felt groggy from a lack of rest, even as he lied on his back in the small cave, trying to find sleep. Also, while he was perfectly able to survive in the wild, he was a fan of having a roof over his head once the day ended.

He grunted at his continuous whining ("Keep smacking your lips about how badly the day is going and it will only get worse," Mom had always said), though at that a draft from outside flew into the cave and made him shiver. Rather than build a fire, he started to think about Flame Princess, which usually did the trick, and soon he found himself smiling and imaging a lot of cuddling. He also liked imagining cuddling with her, mostly because it was a much better idea in concept than application, lest he grew interested in becoming BBQ'd Finn.

"Can't sleep either?" Marceline's voice split the silence in the cave, and was followed by another breeze rippling through the cave, causing a light whistling to sound around them.

Finn nodded and turned off his back to look at her, but then answered, "Yeah," when he saw that she was facing away from him, her arm slowly shifting this way and that. He realized slowly she was using her nails to dig into the rock, his own aching from the thought of such an act.

"I'm not really trying… not worth it," She continued, and Finn had the urge to follow up with a question, but wasn't sure if that would be breaking the third rule, asking about her p-biz. Since she was speaking to him for the first time all day, he decided to play it safe and bring up something else.

"How could you tell I was awake?" He asked, legitimately interested in her answer.

"Breathing and heartbeat," Marceline replied proudly, the hollow sound of rock cracking merging with her soft voice. "They slow down when you sleep, and I can hear them with my Vampire ears. The human body also emits different kinds of smells when asleep. Long story short, your heartbeat just fluttered, and it's been too quick for you to be asleep, so I figured you were awake."

"Whoa. That's mathematical!" Finn replied, smiling in slight awe.

"Heh," The Vampire Queen chuckled, shrugging from her position on the floor. "It's pretty cool, I guess. Helps with pranking. Having powerful senses is one of my favorite things about being a Vampire. Except for having the smell of garlic amplified. Glob, that stuff reeks."

Finn giggled, but then another thought crossed his mind, and after yawning, asked, "Hey… if you have such powerful senses, did you know Jake and I were hiding in your house that one time before you actually talked to us?" He still felt slightly awkward about that whole situation (mostly because he had seen the Vampire Queen naked), and the fact that Marceline sometimes hung out at the Tree-Fort without he and Jake knowing had only made him feel more odd.

"Oh, yeah, I thought you two were trying to prank me or some ish," Marceline replied with another chuckle. "If I had known you were just scared I was going to suck your blood out or something I would have let you know I knew you were there and we could have jammed."

"Aight," Finn replied, content with not bringing up the moment he had seen her nude, and happy she hadn't mentioned it either. How foolish he was to think the undead girl would miss an opportunity to play yet another mind game.

"How was the view?" Marceline asked a moment later, and though Finn, as his heartbeat skyrocketed, could sense no teasing in her voice, he was fairly sure she was sporting a wide grin at the moment. "Hehe, I see. I appreciate the compliment," She added cryptically, Finn's brow furrowing in confusion until he realized she had listened for his heartbeat. The embarrassment he felt was softly dampened by the fact that he actually knew that when people thought about… romantic stuff like that, their heart beat rose. He had picked that factoid up from Princess Bubblegum, and had been sufficiently embarrassed when she had mentioned it as well.

"I've changed my mind about your senses being awesome," Finn deadpanned, and Marceline giggled. Though he wasn't a fan of being teased, he smiled; at least he was doing something right.

"Sorry I've been such a butt," She said, her tone shifting to apologetic as she rolled onto her back. "I usually sulk and act all moody whenever I run off like this… while trying to get rid of tension as best I can."

"Like the thing with the City of Thieves?" Finn asked hesitantly. Marceline frowned before slowly nodding. "I'm not judging, Marcy. But…" He trailed off, afraid to break the third rule once again.

"Go ahead, Finn," Marceline prodded, her voice hard to read, and he continued.

"That's not you. I know you've got demon inside you as well as Vampire, but sacking a town for the sake of… er…"

"Catharsis," Marceline provided, and though he wasn't quite sure if that was the word he was looking for (considering he didn't know the word), he nodded.

"Yeah. It's just… wrong. I know you didn't hurt anyone, but still," He finished, swallowing, hoping her reaction would be mellow.

"I know," She replied softly, her face unchanging. "It's just… I guess some habits die harder than others." Marceline let that statement hang in the air long enough for Finn to question whether she regretted saying it, but she moved on without elaboration. "Like I was saying, though, I try to get rid of my angst. Get rid of my anger. So, the fact that I'm being so uneven isn't because of you. It's me. Just wanted to let you know."

"I gotcha, no probz," Finn assured her in the most comforting tone he could muster, and while he was still down about her being down, he felt glad that it wasn't because of him.

"And about your question about going north…" Marceline continued, now sitting up and tossing herself an apple from her bag of red objects with telekinesis. "We're heading their eventually, but I want to work off some stress before we do." Her teeth snapped into the apple, emphasizing the stress she had spoken of.

"We could spar, or play some music," Finn suggested, Marceline shrugging at his ideas.

"Maybe. What do you when you're down?" Marceline asked, turning to look at him for the first time, and Finn bit his lip as he thought.

"Well, generally I either start balling my eyes out," He said with an embarrassed smile, Marceline smirking at his confession. "Or I do something heroic to make myself feel good about myself."

"Huh," Marceline replied, scratching her stomach and thinking it over. "I think by now you've picked up on me doing most of my good deeds incognito. I have a tough-girl imagine to protect, after all. But I like helping people. I kicked the stuff out of a Goblin, like, literally, he went flying, that was trying to steal your stuff from under your rock before we met back up, and it felt good even before I realized it was your stuff."

"See? That's what I live off of!" Finn replied cheerfully and honestly. Being a good Samaritan was righteous, yo, as far as he was concerned. Maybe it didn't get street appeal, but the Princesses dug it.

"I guess we can try that out," Marceline said with a small smile, effortlessly pushing off the ground into a float. As she began to hum to herself, her mood clearly raised, Finn peered over at the space she had been occupying. He smiled as his eyes fell on a large, fancy (but not overtly so) M carved delicately into the cave's floor.

* * *

_I could use a lot of excuses right now, the biggest one being college, but in reality I'm sorry for the crappy update length. Next one will be up within a week. _

_In retrospect, I probably should have just had Death tell Bubblegum all the information Billy told her in this chapter in Chapter 6, but I had plum forgotten that Billy was actually dead, and didn't want to go back and change things. Alas, at least I got some Jake (Glob I love Jake) in. For Billy himself, though, it was kind of cool to give him a bit of a Viking burial kind of gig. Writing in his speech inflection is weird. _

_At this point, we're getting into heavy Marcy and Finn territory, where they will be making up pretty much the rest of the chapters. I wanted to fit as many other characters in as I could, and via flashbacks more will appear, but this is the last chapter I can think of where it will cut to a scene Marceline and Finn aren't explicitly present in (besides maybe a few Lich moments)._

_I have the rest of the plot mentally mapped out, and am going to get it on paper tomorrow just to be safe. Thanks for reading!_


	9. Marcy's Little Helper

**Review Responses:**

**The Nephilim King Michael: **_Billy may yet have a small part to play when all is said and done, but I really liked giving him that send off. _

**Ziazan: **_Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad the branching out is still keeping true to the core concept of Adventure Time. I really enjoy the show because of that mix of maturity and humor, and I'm glad it's coming across._

**LittleRedRiddingWolf: **_I am sorely tempted to write Marcy/Finn fluff every chapter :P_

**He23t: **_I'm glad you are enjoying it!_

**Desperado558: **_Thank you very much! The praise means a lot, I try to strive for hitting the right amount of detail and getting the characters right but still expanding on them._

* * *

**Chapter 9: Marcy's Little Helper**

It was another two days of travel before a day with enough cloud coverage for Marceline to feel comfortable going out sans umbrella came along. And so the disgruntled Vampire and optimistic hero, despite some mild wear from starting off the day after staying up all night flying, ventured outward from their cave looking for a town.

Finding someone to help wasn't even a concern for Finn. It was a good thing that he was so upbeat about dishing out aid, because either he was drawn toward negatives vibes, or they were drawn to him. He figured they'd just go with the flow through the day, maybe get a cat out of a tree or something along those lines to get the ball rolling.

He also wasn't too worried about busting any of the three rules anymore, so as they walked along a grassy lane, he decided to ask Marceline a few questions that had to deal with their current errand.

"Hey, Marcy?" He asked as they slowly began to see elements of a town, such as mailboxes outside the sparsely spread houses (which for no discernible reason to him were all green, as well as very, very small). "Um, could I ask you a kind of personal question? It deals with me helping you help people to help yourself."

"Uh, yeah, I guess, just cool it on the 'helps,'" She replied after looking him over, hesitance all over her face. Personal questions were between listening to Bonnibel talk about differential equations and having to chase out the gaseous toad that invaded her cave every autumn on the Marceline enjoyment scale.

"You're half demon and half Vampire, right?" He asked, and she nodded, clearly interested as to where he was going with this. "So… does being half demon, like… I don't want to make this sound wrong, but does it ever make you feel or act… evil?" Finn fell silent, having barely even whispered the last word.

He often overlooked the fact that the Vampire Queen was just that; a Vampire, and a demon to boot. And while he certainly didn't judge her for it, he had never taken the time to work out exactly what that meant, considering he was, as he had told her father, "super good."

Marceline thought it was mildly amusing that, for the first time in her life, someone had **asked** her whether or not her demonic heritage made her evil (it was generally assumed), and considered how to answer his question. It was the quite the testament to Finn, in her eyes, that someone so morally upright treated her as an equal. Unlike a certain Candy Princess she knew.

As Marceline began bashing the Princess in her mind for being so high and mighty, Finn became convinced she was angry at him for being so nosey, and had begun calling himself mean names (like "dumb-monkey", "guy who eats all the dip at parties", and "foolish, uncouth barbarian") for asking the question in the first place when she shook herself out of her angst and answered.

"I think, even in the little bit of time I've known you, Finn, that you've grown up enough to realize good and evil aren't as clear as we'd like them to be," Marceline began, Finn listening intently. "Look at the Ice King. Yeah, he creeps on princesses, but all he wants is companions. Hell, even look at my Dad… I mean, yeah, he kind of sucks, and he's def evil, but he loves me regardless. Do I have his kinds of tendencies? I mean… yeah."

Marceline halted, looking her companion over as she spoke. "It's funny; people see the Vampire, and assume I'm evil, but all Vampirism comes with is bloodlust, and the means to destroy. The demon side though, it makes things difficult. When you're a demon, it's like… you're not bad outright, but your morality is kind of skewed. I mean, most demons eventually get onto the path of being pretty darn evil, but it's like tall people and basketball. You don't HAVE to become that way. The demon in you makes you become obsessed with the outcomes in life, and blur what happens along the way. Liiiike…" She trailed off, scrunching up her face and leaning her head on one hand.

"Like, if I see you buy a donut, and I'm really hungry, and have no money, I'd be seriously tempted to just steal your donut. Which I think we can both agree is a pretty horrible crime." Finn nodded in complete conviction, remembering the last time he had been the victim of pastry theft (not counting when Cinnamon Bun had accidentally convinced himself he had been kidnapped and had sent letters to the hero asking him to help track the loveable lug down).

"When I was a kid, I used to have all kinds of problems with treating other kids like crap because I wanted to have my way," Marceline continued, laughing lightly as she finished, some type of nostalgia falling over her. It was rare she could recall those days so pleasantly, particularly without thinking about either radiation or explosions. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, when I first met you, I thought you were just evil, or at the least very disagreeable," Finn replied honestly, rubbing his head in shame at the brutal truth within his words. If Marceline felt hurt, she didn't show it, so he continued. "But then, as I got to know you, I thought you were just joking around, and using your appearance to scare people and act out when in reality you were really good. But now… I think it's more complex."

Marceline's eyebrows tilted as far as she could manage in annoyance, and Finn abruptly realized his psycho-analysis had overstayed its welcome.

"…Finn, third rule, good Glob," Marceline hissed, shaking her head at his ruminations.

"No! It's just…" Finn replied, shaking his head. "I feel like you kind of waver between the good thoughts and the bad. Like, that sometimes you regret what you do, but only afterwards, and then just play it off as pretending to be bad, because you want to be in control or at least seem like you are. And I think that if you tried to focus on helping people and doing good stuff, maybe it would come more naturally!"

Marceline continued to look mildly irked at his theory as she played it out in her head, but finally sighed. "You might be on the right track," She let out in a whisper, shrugging. "I mean… it's not that I even want to do bad stuff. At least not anymore," Her voice fell at those words as her past threatened to creep into her mind. The Vampire Queen took a deep breath, pushing those thoughts away. "It's just sometimes I get soooooo impulsive. Why are you bringing this up, anyway?"

"I wanted to make sure I was right," Finn replied, smiling in relief, "because since I am, it means that all you need is someone to teach you control about that kind of ish, and I can be that dude, dude! I've been doing the same kind of stuff with FP. People keep telling me she's evil, but she's nowhere near it, and I think with you it's kind of the same deal."

"Okay," Marceline replied, scratching her side as she began to float down the lane again. "I mean, I get what you're saying, but you have to understand I've been around for awhile, Finn. I know how to live my life… I thought we were just doing something good, you know, to get me out of this funk. I'm not, like, going to join a civil service project."

"Yeah, I know," Finn replied sheepishly, smiling. "But… it's just something to think about." Marceline nodded slowly, and he took the hint and dropped the subject.

"…Uh, I might be losing it, but are these mailboxes and houses made out of grass?" Marceline floated off the path and to one of the mailboxes, which Finn immediately noticed was just as green as all the houses they had walked by. She deftly poked it for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeeep. Definitely grass. How on earth is this thing standing up?"

Before Finn could reply, a sharp, nearly hysterical scream rang out from nearby. "Oh Glob, I hope that's just someone screaming for ice cream!" Finn shouted before running in that direction, Marceline keeping pace beside him and suddenly desiring cherry ice cream.

Before long they realized they were heading into the heart of the town, and soon they arrived there to find it packed with Grass People (a peaceful people who are about the size of a mailbox standing on its front, and among the most stealthy and combustible denizens of Ooo), all in a great clamor and gazing towards the center of the square. As with the houses and mailboxes, just about the entirety of every object or building around them was constructed from grass; grass bank, grass bench, even a grass fountain.

The only thing that wasn't made from grass within their eyesight was (or at least what appeared to be) a wizard, clad in deep maroon robes, his pinkish face protruding from his collar much like a volcano does from the earth, and holding a sparking fireball up to the face of a Grassite. Marceline and Finn immediately (and correctly) guessed this was the cause of the commotion.

"Great buns!" Finn exclaimed ridiculously, the wizard and the entirety of the crowd of green folk turning to him instantly, though just before their gazes fell on him Marceline wisely turned herself invisible, sensing stealth might be valuable in the situation.

The wizard, whom Finn already had a bad taste in his mouth about, hissed at the sight of the young hero, immediately exclaiming, "You're not made out of grass!"

"…Duuuuhhhhhh?" Finn replied snappily in return, the wizard literally steaming at his words, but remaining silent, clearly unclear as to how to proceed.

"Um… do you burn, though?" The wizard asked casually after a few moments of consideration, and Finn rolled his eyes. The fact that the mage had been dumb enough to ask let Finn know he wasn't dealing with anyone too dangerous.

"No," He lied, and the wizard grunted in dissatisfaction, shooting a small bolt of fire at one of the Grassite's feet. The poor thing shrieked in terror before leaping out of the way.

"Hey! What did that Grass Person ever do to you?" Finn questioned harshly, his hand immediately reaching for the hilt of his red blade.

The wizard began to cackle evilly before replying, "To me? Nothing! For me? Plenty! You see, I hold these little grass losers hostage and force them to create parts for the large-scale infrastructure that I can sell!"

Finn blinked once or twice, trying to process this. The wizard coughed after a second, wondering if he hadn't been clear about his devious plan, before the hero asked, "Why on Ooo would you use these little guys? They built their village out of grass, they can't be that great at craftsmanship."

"You'd think so!" The wizard cackled. "But in reality, they are some of the greatest builder's in Ooo."

"It's true!" The Grassite standing next to the wizard said defeatedly, slumping over like a leaf near falling from its tree. "We have super-duper adhesive spit, and therefore are able to build incredibly sound structures out of but grass for a large profit. Fearing exploitation, we have hidden our trait, but five years ago one of our young spit on this jerkwad and after getting his hand stuck on his robe trying to wipe it off, he enslaved us."

"Wait. So is this revenge, or are you just trying to take advantage of the situation?" Finn asked pointedly, the flame wizard shrugging.

"I mean, my hand's still stuck to the robe, so I guess I have a gripe, especially considering how difficult that has made showering, but to be completely honest I'm in it for the moolah," The fire-wielder replied, drooling at the mention of money. "You don't know how much buck this lawn has brought me. I've provided at least half of all the infrastructure built in Ooo over the last five years."

Finn once again paused, unsure where this really left him, but as soon as he let his guard down, the wizard laughed evilly once more and raised his free hand (causing the hero to wonder how he had missed the other one touching the caster's side at such an odd angle). "And now you shall perish for knowing my secret!" Came the obligatory villainous shout.

"Not if me and Marceline the Vampire Queen have anything to say about it!" Finn shouted, dodging a fireball with ease, and sticking his sword in his attacker's direction.

"Eh, who's that?" The wizard muttered, looking around. "Are you trying to trick me?"

Finn raised an eyebrow, but when he went to confirm Marcy's presence, he could find no one. Had she just… left him? Finn didn't know if he felt more hurt or confused, but thankfully, Marceline was hovering right above the wizard's head, preparing to give out quite the butt whooping.

And give it out she did, one of her lanky legs slicing through the air like a mega-ton pendulum and colliding with the fire wizard's ugly butt. He went flying straight up into the air at which point Marceline flew up along with him, locked her hands together, and brought them down with a resounding smack on his head, sending him back to the ground.

"Whoo! Go Marcy!" Finn shouted, cheering wildly and lifting a few Grassites into his arm, who began to whoop and holler as well.

"…Ah, so you have an invisible helper, do you?" The mage barked, the ground beneath him becoming charred. "Well let's see her dodge THIS." He began to glow briefly for a moment, Finn wondering what on Ooo the crazy dude was going to unleash. Marceline, now visible, raced down, her face grim (which worried Finn the most), and her fist propelled outward.

It was a maneuver Finn would come to call the Marcy-Torpedo in the near future, but in this case, realization struck the Vampire a second before her impact with their foes ugly face that she wasn't going to be able to stop his attack, and she switched course, careening into Finn and hoping to send him out of the range of the blast.

They crashed into the ground hard, but thankfully the grass was very soft and plush. Well, at least that's what they thought until they heard subdued screaming and realized they had landed on top of a Grassite.

"Oh Glob little green bro!" Finn shouted in guilt, rolling off him while Marceline simply floated off the ground. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, our internal organs are tougher than rocks!" The terrified, shaking green creature replied. "But everyone else is burning, man!" Sure enough, as they turned the entirety of the people they had been aiming to save were on fire, running around screaming like chickens with their heads cut off, while the wizard was nowhere in sight.

"Oh sugar snaps!" Marceline shrieked, quickly looking for any kind of water to douse the flames while Finn began to run around and (using the knowledge the Grassite they had landed on to good use) smacking every grass person he could get his hands on into the ground to put them out. Regardless of how tough their organs were, he apologized frantically at every smack.

After a few seconds of scanning, Marceline's eyes fell upon a large barrel, and she flew over to it, noting it was filled with liquid as she grasped it in her arms. Effortlessly she rose into the sky, and with a very heroic shout ripped it in two, its contents pouring out. Unfortunately, after the exact moment she ripped it in two, a smell she was (too) familiar with hit her; the barrel had been filled with The Juice of the Elder Toad. Which besides making her drunk-dial Bubblegum most weekends, also happened to be extremely flammable.

Cursing the flame wizard for what was obviously his barrel of the drink, she tried to block out the crescendo in screams, and with a new idea in mind flew high into the air.

Finn shrieked like a love-struck school-girl when the fire coating most of the screaming creatures grew, even more ferocious, harsh realization that he couldn't do much at this point besides shouting, "Stop, drop, and roll! Stop, drop, and roll! Or at least do the electric slide! Maybe the worm?" setting in.

Marceline quickly scoped out a river from her high perch, and swooped down, transforming into a humongous bat in midair, and swallowing as much water as her stomach could hold. At this point, the terror the Grassites would feel from seeing one of her more horrible forms was non-existent. Much like Candy People, Grass People could recreate themselves after injury, but they only had enough grass to withstand a minute or so of being on fire, though the spit helped.

On the subject of spit, Marceline reared back her ugly, furry mug and blanched out her payload onto the small town below her. She hoped it was enough to put all of them out, but not too great an amount, lest they were all swept away.

"Grab onto something ya'll!" Finn screamed out, pulling as many of the poor Grassites onto him as he could. For a moment, the first degree burns he received comforted him, reminding him of his girlfriend. And then there was water from every direction, particularly above, which terrified him and reminded him of the ocean.

The smarter of the Grassites had spat on the ground and then stepped in it, while the rest had simply grasped onto anything solid they could find. When it became clear to Marcline that many would be washed away, she shapeshifted yet again, this time becoming a great black serpent, and coiling around the town square to fence the submerged Grass People in.

Between the water leaking out from under her and her swallowing as much as she could and then spitting it outside of the town, it took two minutes before crisis had been averted. Immediately after most of the water had drained, she changed into her base form and swooped to the center, her thoughts focused on finding Finn.

_Talk about heroic! Bear cap boy will be singing my praises! _She thought proudly as she looked for him.

"Common, you fools! Hit his chest harder! Glob, why, WHY must we only way several ounces?" Came a desperate cry that caught the Vampire's attention. Marceline turned to see about five Grassites jumping up and down on Finn's chest, the boy's face pale.

Her eyes widened at the sight, reason leaving her for a split second before she rushed forward, smacked the Grass People on him off, and began pumping his chest with her hands. Thankfully, Vampire super-strength had its perks, andhe spat out water a moment later, breathing heavily, and staring up at Marceline in awe.

"M-Marcy…" He panted, the Vampire Queen shaking in horror at what could have been. Glob, what had she been thinking, he didn't know how to lumping swim! Sometimes he could barely walk for fuc—"

"THAT WAS AWESOME! YOU'RE LIKE A VAMPIRE FIRE HYDRANT!" Finn shouted, leaping up and hugging her tightly. "And you saved all the Grass People!" Before Marceline could roar at Finn for ignoring the fact he had nearly DROWNED, they heard terse "ahems" from all around them.

"Oohhhh, thanks so much for saving us by ticking that maniacal wizard off so he set us on fire," One of the Grassites said with bitter sarcasm, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah! We really appreciated when you dumped that Elder Toad Juice on us too, and tried to drown us and wash us away from each other!" Another shouted. Finn's face fell almost immediately, an as he began to work up an apology, he realized that Marceline was growling a thick, throaty growl.

And while for reasons he really didn't understand this kind of made him feel good in that weird way, like when he accidentally went into the woman's undergarments section in the mall and found himself surrounded by bras, the Grassites seemed quite terrified.

"You little flipping FERNS!" Marceline barked, ripping a chunk of dirt out of the ground and pegging the last Grass Person who had spoken in the face. "LUMP OFF! WE SAVE YOUR LITTLE GREEEN ASSES, AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO WHINE ABOUT IT!"

"Marcy, whoa, calm down Marceline, it's okay, I know you did great, it's—" Finn's words seemed to have little effect, as the Vampire Queen marched over to the other Grassite who had admonished her. The poor thing could only shake in fear, and as such did little to avoid her hand clamping around his leg.

After the firm slam of his body hitting a house, Marceline spun around, hissing wildly, the ridges of her fingers beginning to glow orange. "I BET you stupid little fools didn't know that Vampires posses pyrokinesis, and since you're also so DUMB you can't tell when someone saved your butts, I bet you DON'T know that means I CAN CONTROL FIRE!"

That was the winning number, causing the terrified Grass People to run away from her in complete and utter fear, some even pooping out wood, suddenly deciding the thing with the wizard they had been forced into hadn't been that bad after all.

"YOU'RE WELCOME, BITCHES!" Was Marceline's final cry, and she held the s for several seconds, turning it into a hiss. Without another word she turned and floated down the road, and Finn, unsure if he just witnessed something epic or morally awful, followed.

* * *

_So, here's me waving goodbye wherever the heck the last month went. Sigh. I'm about done promising I'll get my crap together update-wise, because what should have been five free days of writing kind of turned into living hell this week. _

_Enough of my whining, this was originally going to be longer, but I realized midway through that it would end up being around 7,000 words if that were the case, so it is being posted now, and the sister part should follow soon (hopefully). _

_Overall, I'm not nuts about this chapter, but I'm glad to finish it. The next one should be fun to finish. Thanks for reading!_


	10. Evanescence

**Review Responses:**

**The Nephilim King Michael: **_Thank you! I hope you enjoy it._

**Desperado558: **_Thank you!Waiting can build suspense, but sadly in this case it's writer's block/personal crap getting in the way._

**He23t: **_Thank you!_

******trasgo artifexdiaz**:_ Thank you! Yeah, I think being kind to Vampires is generally a good idea._

* * *

**Chapter 10: ****Evanescence **  


After ten minutes of walking silently behind Marceline, though well aware she, with her enhanced senses, must know he was there, Finn was pretty positive they weren't heading anywhere near the cave.

Judging by the fact that she had just used some words Finn had only heard Jake shout when his brother had thought the hero hadn't been in the room, he was more than a little concerned. As he began to piece together what he should tell her to cool her jets, he noticed she had stopped moving, and gulped.

"Um, Marcy, look—"

"WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME!?" The Vampire Queen barked menacingly, turning on a dime, grabbing Finn by the shoulder and lifting him so he was level with her face. "You should know by now how I blow off steam, fool!" Red, pulsing eyes demanded some kind of response.

Her anger was countered by Finn shrugging with a nervous smile, reaching into his shirt pocket, and quickly placing something on the Vampire's chest.

"Wha?" She murmured, dropping him and glancing down. Upon her shirt was a small, gold star. Marceline gazed at it for several seconds, her eyes still fluctuating in rage. And then, as if a Vampire-angst switch was flipped, she sighed, crossing her legs and plopping onto the ground.

"I hate you Finn," She cursed smacking her fist into the ground, her eyes not leaving the star. "Because no matter how angry I get, I can't get angry at YOU. I can push away everyone I care about, no, everything in the world, but you. I just swore out an entire village and threatened to set the villagers on fire, and here's a lumpin' gold star on my chest. 'Great job Marceline! Good job gettin' loco as a cup of hot cocoa!' WHY ARE YOU SO UNHATABLE?"

"Marceline, it's alright, it's all good, we did it!" Finn said, raising his hands up and lowering them in an attempted soothing motion.

"…What did we do? And what are YOU doing with your arms? Is that some kind of goofy dance move?" The Vampire asked, her anger dissipating, propping her arms on her sides.

"Saved the day!" Finn shouted heroically, his voice deepening slightly before it inadvertently cracked into a squeak. "And nah, I'm trying to be a calming influence!"

Despite her immediate snicker, Marceline was not amused. "Saved the day. Right. Everyone just seemed soooo thankful." She added harsh emphasis to the "k" in thankful, and for a moment Finn had images of his friend beating the… uh… grass out of Grass People.

"…Well," Finn replied, glancing away from her. "We saved them, but sometimes, even heroes don't get thanked. I mean, sometimes you get sweet gear, and if you're really lucky a kiss from a princess, but it doesn't always pan out that you get a reward or praise. Just that special bubbly feeling in yo heart. Do you hear it beating, Marceline? It's saying 'good job!'"

"A, what's the point of saving and helping people if they treat you like dirt?" Marceline asked, ignoring all the bubbly feeling junk. "And B, I'm not a hero, I'm a Vampire, which if you couldn't guess is WHY I got treated like dirt, and why I'm not a goody-two-shoes like you." Taking perhaps a little more of her agitation out on him than she should, Marceline jabbed her finger into Finn's chest, sending him to the ground.

She immediately flinched at her own actions, hissing at the rush of guilt. Just as quickly she offered a hand, Finn taking it. "You okay?" Marceline asked, and despite that he felt a new bruise coming on, Finn nodded readily. Her eyes narrowed, and slowly she extended her finger out to the same spot on his chest. Contact led to a yelp of pain, and Marceline sighed.

"That's gonna bruise, huh?" She barked, more to herself than him. "And of course after pushing you down I remember you almost drowned…"

"No! I was just being… uh… disagreeable towards water!" Finn claimed, the Vampire Queen's rising angst given sonic-form as she cracked her knuckles brutally. "…Are you going to make me leave? Because I almost drowned?" His quiet, broken tone snapping her from her rage.

"No, I mean… cripes, that is the first rule, huh?" Marceline whispered, having completely forgotten it entirely. She looked him up and down; the Finn experiment definitely wasn't failing, as though her heart still swung from "just peachy" to "HEAVY METAL SCREAMING", usually whenever she journeyed to blow off steam the needle stuck with the latter. As she had said herself, it was hard to hate the goofball.

To accentuate that point, the small pop of a fart disturbed the intense silence, Finn coughing embarrassedly.

Returning to her internal thoughts now sporting a grin, she wondered if she even could ditch him at this point. The Vampire would feel grungy and despicable if she left him so far from home, forcing him to bushwhack his way back, though she had no doubt he was more than capable of making the journey. Heck, he would just follow her at this point regardless. She should have never brought up a specific cardinal direction, and should have smashed the device Bonnibel spawned when she had held it in her hands.

"I guess I still could…" She whispered, Finn tilting his head at her words.

"…Could what?" He asked, his face falling as she flinched again.

"Oh! Nuthin'!" She hastily replied, swallowing. "Just… you're fine. Don't worry about it."

"…Alright," Finn said with a shrug. In his own heart he worried that she was having second thoughts, but he said nothing. "…I know it kind of got a little out of hand back there, but honestly, that was a kind of loaded situation. What if we found something more small-scale?"

"You've got one more shot to find some poor sucker for us to help, and then I'm out," Marceline replied, her tone flatter than her heart-line.

"Then I shall choose well my lady," Finn replied with a small bow, and after avoiding a barrage of snickers and mocking at his over-done chivalry, the odd couple continued down the road, Vampire filled once more with doubt while human fell into the habit of cursing his foolishness silently. A habit he had no idea his companion shared.

After a short, and relatively silent (the exception being a beat-boxing contest in the middle) march, they came across a perfectly round, maroon house. Finn continued to walk by, Marceline's lack of footsteps making it so he had no awareness that she had stopped, a thick glob of drool dangling from her mouth and swinging like a drunken pendulum.

Eventually he realized he had started a discussion about how awesome a skateboard powered by spitting would be with himself, and turned to find the Vampire Queen knocking at the door of the house.

It was her favorite shade of red, and one she had been loath to feast on for many, many years (and that even now gave her slight indigestion at times). As a rule she tended to not keep anything its shade lying around the house, unless it was for special occasions. Seeing it in small doses was tantalizing, but a whole house?

As a spec of sense crept into her head, and she wondered how on earth she was going to proposition whoever lived here to let her eat their house, the door began to creak open slowly. A pale gray face stuck out from it wearingly, and as soon as the two wide, black eyes upon it viewed Marceline, the person screamed and slammed the door shut.

"OH GOD NOW HE SENT HIS WIFE TO FINISH THE JOB!" Came a cry from inside the house as Finn rushed over to see who was screaming like they swallowed hot porridge. Suddenly the face momentarily darted into one of the windows before flying back. "AND SHE HAS A SLAVE!"

"I am no man's wife!" Marceline shouted as Finn bellowed, "I haven't been her slave for like, two years!"

"Trickery and lies!" The voice retorted, thought at least now it wasn't screaming, and they both vaguely made it out as belonging to an elderly man. "Just leave me be. First you take away my claim to fame, and then you were cruel enough to leave me trapped in a monument to my former glory!"

"Okay, this guy's diving in the crazy pool, can we disengage?" Marceline whispered, but Finn shook his head sternly.

"He's clearly frightened, let's just try talking him some sense and then maybe we can organize the letters in his alphabet soup," Finn suggested, the Vampire shrugging in response.

"We're sorry for whatever happened to you, and swear it wasn't us!" Finn shouted, knocking politely upon the door. "We'd be happy to help though!"

"I know a Vampire when I see one!" Came a wary reply, to which Marceline and Finn exchanged a confused glance.

"You… were attacked by a Vampire?" Marceline asked slowly, and after a moment the door opened once more.

"…Yes, and you're a Vampire, aren't ya?" The old dude asked, and after a moment the Queen of said race nodded.

"I apologize, sir," Marceline replied with an air of grace Finn have never witnessed her display. "I am the ruler of all Vampiric folk, and have strictly ordered them not to cause undue strife to others."

"…But then what about that time you sucked the red out of that guy's bowtie?" Finn began. "He seemed scared as—" He gulped at the terrifying look Marceline was giving him, and stuck a sock in it.

"If one of those under my wing are acting as such," Marceline continued, falling back into a pleasant countenance, "I will do anything in my power to see to it they are stopped. What happened to you?"

The geezer looked her up and down, and only after several seconds of thought did he sigh, and motion for them to come in.

Marceline had been inside for all of five seconds before she spoke, her voice throbbing with barely contained anger and disbelief. "You were red. A Vampire sucked it out of you." She nudged Finn and pointed to a picture on the wall of what was clearly the old man in his younger years, fashioned as a cowboy and balancing on a raging bull.

They turned to the old fella, getting their first good look at him; gravity and time had wrenched him downward, and a small pot belly hung from his stomach, but Finn could definitely picture him riding around on buckin' broncos at an earlier age, and he still wore vaguely western clothing.

He nodded with sorrow at Marceline's words. "Came in a week ago. Sucked me dry. I loved being red. I was the reddest cowboy in all of Ooo. And now I'm just gray. Gray, gray, gray." He sulked lower and lower as he repeated the word.

"Awww… cheer up! It looks like you were an awesome cowboy, and we could… uh…" Finn trailed off, looking at Marceline in desperation as the old dude began to weep, but she didn't even notice, so far away were her eyes. "Uh, we could decorate you!"

"…I am the shell of a proud man who once wrestled a hog to the ground with his pinky!" The cowboy shouted, wagging his hand in an elderly fashion. "You think I want to be decorated?"

"Oh, suffering saber-bikers, I forgot to ask!" Marceline said smacking her head, and knocking a grasshopper out of her ear in the process. "Uh, could I suck some of the red out of your house?"

"What!? Yeah! I hate it! I just makes me think about when I was red, gosh darnit!" The geezer replied. "Make it fifty shades of gray!"

"Whoooaaa, man, what?" Marceline asked, backing away, until she viewed the man's confused expression and realized he hadn't been talking about what she had imagined at all. After this, she coughed awkwardly, and replied, "Yeah, sure! As long as you let peachy here decorate you." Marceline smiled sheepishly and pulled Finn into a one arm hug, the hero blushing and the old man hurumping.

"Fine!" He shouted.

* * *

**One hour of sucking and colored markers later**

* * *

"I feel like I ate an army of Licorice BLUUUUUUUUURGH!" Marceline started before burping, the skin on Finn's face rippling from the shock wave. "An army of Licorice Knights," She finished, smiling contentedly and rubbing her belly.

"What about you, Mr. Cowboy?" Finn asked, turning to the old man, who was covered in purple marker, smiley faces, pasted-on fake battle wings in the back, and enough gold stars that in the future he would receive a very profitable position as a disco ball.

"Ummm. I feel. Glittery. I'm not sure if this is doing it for me," The geezer replied gazing at his body. "Er, what's this doohickey on my arm again?" He pointed to a rather elaborate section of lines on his forearm, and Finn smiled.

"That's your arm's power band!" Finn exclaimed, holding his own forearm up; sure enough, he had drawn a matching one on his own. "Maybe I should slap a crossbow onto your other one!"

The retired cowboy gave him one of those looks people give their cats when they bring back dead rodents as gifts, and slowly shook his head. "Nah, nah, I feel, uh, pretty enough."

"Did you hear that Marceline! He feels pretty! Whoo! Go cowboy! Hogtie em!" Finn began to run around the yard enthusiastically, and when she was positive he wasn't paying attention the Vampire floated to the side of the old man.

"If you shower quickly I think everything will wash off… except maybe the stars," She whispered tugging at her own sticker in mild amusement. "I think he uses super glue or something for those."

"Thanks for the tip," He replied, giving himself another look-over and shuddering. "Where'd you find that one? He's kookier than a horse at a square dance."

Marceline shared his shudder (but in her case it was at the mention of square dancing), and then shrugged. "I found him… a long time ago, and recently re-found him. He's probably the kindest person I've ever met. It drives me bat-crazy. Like, I don't turn into a bat, but… you get me."

"Yeah yeah, I get ya," The cowboy replied. There was an awkward silence of several second before he ended it beautifully by saying, "Sorry I thought you were going to eat me."

"Eh, I get that reaction all the time. 'Specially from my ex."

The cowboy gave her a long look before deciding not to ask.

"I'm sorry again about the rogue Vampire attack. I'll track them down," Marceline muttered, her fist clenching as she picture smacking heads together. "I guess I've been a bit too lenient."

"Just leave him at home, lest he gets eaten," The cowboy warned before turning and walking into his house. She immediately frowned, and despite knowing what the old man did not, that Finn was a first class hero who punched danger till it was mere liquid and then used it as maple syrup, having a human around a rogue Vampire was a terrible, terrible idea.

"Well, I guess we should head back," Finn said with a shrug, coming up to her after a few moments.

"Totes Magotes!" Marceline replied cheerfully picking up Finn by gripping his head in both hands which (due to the grip of her textured fingers and immense strength) didn't even hurt. In fact, it was almost as cool as Baking Bacon Pancakes. Almost.

"Marcy, this is almost as awesome as bacon pancakes!" Finn shouted, laughing at the sensation of the wind sliding through the gaps between his teeth (a sensation usually only felt by the Flower Prince when he travelled through alternate realities to slam lips with Wind Princess).

"Hahaha, get ready for the loooooops!" Marceline screeched, the wind ripping through her voice and leaving only a high, glorious and fluttering guttural trill. For not the first time Finn realized he was being flown in the hands of a very pretty and cool girl, whose singing voice made his mushy heart warm.

"Dude, your heart-rate just went off like Jawbreaker-mines (the most deadly Candy Kingdom mine ever constructed)!" Marceline shouted as they pierced the air as if a corkscrew wielded by an amateur riding a skateboard. "You aight?"

"Uh-uh, yeah, just the acceleration and adrenaline!" Finn replied. At that moment he and Marceline tilted their respective heads, their eyes meeting. Marceline smiled, the fringes of her lips trembling with a raging swirl of emotion slamming at whatever makeshift mental damns she could muster. And then, at that moment, a truth she had been unable to settle on came to her, and despite some lingering hesitation, she felt assured. It was a hard thing, doing what was right.

The thrill of the moment was too much for Finn, and he missed the tinge of quivering sadness in her curved mouth, or the glittering in her eyes and the tears that followed; perhaps he believed them to be the wind's doing. He simply smiled as wide as he could.

Their eyes parted, and after a short time they landed back at the cave; it was late afternoon now, the mountains a canvas for the sun's fading and dazzling light.

"Well, at least we helped that old dude," Finn concluded as he strode over to his gear, taking out some berries.

"Yeah, I've always wanted to be a cowboy. Sucks with that whole Vampire thing though. Ugh. And seriously, I wasn't trying to make that pun," Marceline muttered in embarrassment as she finished.

"It does, but we did what we could! And you got full off of it! I like that shade of red too," Finn replied.

"…Yeah, it's cool," She replied hesitantly, slipping upside down in midair and carving into the ground, expanding the minor mural she had already created during their stay. "…It's just I don't like eating too much of it. Indigestion with certain reds, you know? It's like… desert."

_More like the main course of a feast. Maybe with a plucked apple in his mouth. You take the first cut? _

Malus's voice slipped into her mind and then fell down her spin like the point of a dagger, the images of a nightmare she had suffered the last time she had managed sleep following. She refocused her gaze on Finn, and then held back a gasp at the bloodied face in front of her. A few blinks, and her hallucination was gone, Finn staring at her with concern and not a spec of blood.

"…Yeah, I know," He said slowly, dropping into criss cross applesauce, obviously wondering what was up but sticking with the conversation.

"When was the last time you ate that much? Also, the last person I decorated was LSP, and she wasn't too apple-jacks about it after," Finn asked. Marceline's face fell further, and he pinched himself in dismay. _Aw, mang, she probably got the stomach volcanoes and barfed up maroon the last time. Great job bringing it up, ya doink._

"Finn, are you glad you met me?" Marceline asked, very quietly, flipping upright and sliding her back against the rock behind her; it was just as cool as nearly as smooth.

"Wh-wha? Of course mang! Marcy, you know that!" He exclaimed, trying to jump up so fast he merely bounced upward at first, his feet caught within each other. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have any experience with bass, know how to run with wolves, or be able to touch my nose with my smallest toe!"

"I mean it Finn! Like seriously… ah, gah, here I go again…" The Vampire Queen cursed, smashing her fist against the wall.

"What?" Finn asked after a second, and she sighed.

"I did the same thing with Bonnie," Marceline whispered, not even caring she let her pet-name slip. "As soon as I start living with someone, or become like, seriously involved I… Finn?" She froze at his wide-eyed face, and suddenly she blushed.

"No, no, NOOOoooo, big boy. Down! Stop that tomfoolery!" She chided, shaking her head. "I mean, like involved as in spend a ton of time with, and make deep connections. Not… not just romantic junk."

"Oh. Right." Finn remained silent after his much-faster-than-socially-normal reply, and Marceline sighed again.

"…I start over-analyzing everything about my relationship with them," She finished, putting her face in her hands. "And make a big wreck out of it."

"…But?" Finn asked, and at her look he cleared his throat. "You wanted me to answer you seriously? I don't get it, Marce… you know I'm glad we're buds."

"Because you don't think it over," Marceline growled, flinging an apple into her hand via telekinesis and clashing her lips into its red exterior. "What if I wasn't around? Bubblegum would probably get over herself… and me, and give you a chance. And—"

"If you're going to talk about me almost dying again, you can stop," Finn said with sudden harshness, the pale girl's head snapping up in reaction.

"…Excuse me?" Marceline's reply came, a blend of genuine surprise, hurt, and confusion.

"You're right, you're overanalyzing," Finn responded, his face hard. "Just… stop. It's okay. Why do you do this to yourself? You're such a great person Marceline, and you act like—"

"LISTEN, KID! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM!" Came the thunderous reply, THE Vampire Queen having leapt into his immediate presence and bearing down upon him with green, hollow eyes as her black hair snaked through the air. "You don't know what I've seen! What I've done! You think, you… you think… you…" Marceline huffed, having run out of steam. Suddenly, it all flooded back, and she couldn't take what she had just done, or the confused face in front of her.

"I'm not a good person!" Was all she could shout before shooting up and out of the cave in a flash. She was nowhere near fast enough to escape Finn's shout of anger, and could not get its terrible bitterness out of her head as she swooped to the top of the mountain.

Her heartstrings seemed to simultaneously pull her into the sky and back into the cave, so she figured she would simply vent in silence (or at least far enough away that he couldn't hear).

And that's when she heard, "I knew I should have stuck with that Candy Kingdom diet," from below her. It was a voice she just recognized.

"Are you lumpin' serious," She hissed, gazing downward and spotting a lump of maroon struggling scale down the mountain. At her words it stopped, and looked up. The pink face of the Fire Wizard looked quite worse for the wear as he realized how pissed she truly was.

"You were sneaking up on us so you could murder us in our sleep," She began in an eerily calm tone, the foreshadowed menace in her soft voice more terrifying than any weapon or power.

"No, no!" The wizard shouted, gulping. "Just… was going to rob you!"

"You picked a bad week," Marceline whispered, her mouth curving into a sly smile. "I haven't been able to sleep, and have been DESPERATE for something to take some aggression out on."

There was no battle. The punk had already nearly killed Finn, had directly caused her first freak-out of the day, and had made the mistake of being caught about to attempt more ill while she was in the middle of her second.

Marceline the Vampire Queen raised her fist, and like a bolt of fury it descended from the sky. This time the Marcy-Torpedo would not be denied, and was greeted in return with the sound of cracking bone.

His body landed with a thud; he was on his back, and she wasted no time mounting upon her prey, a quick knee to the gut all she needed to subdue him just to the point of bare-consciousness.

"Ugh… please… no…" He begged, Marceline's fingers twitching in bloodlust. There was no hesitation; he was a threat to her and Finn, and as sick as it made her feel, perhaps this was just what she needed. She hadn't tasted flesh for a long while; too long. Ignoring how much she was sounding like Malus, she quickly wondered how this would go.

This clown already wore red on the outside, but his face was pink… and while the thought of biting him made her stomach quake, she did have a thing for the color pink.

"The dopey kid! In the hat! He wouldn't want you to do it!" The wizard shouted as her head began to lower and he became aware of her actual intentions, Marceline freezing at his words. "Yeah! See! You know, he's all… heroic and shiz! He'd make you let me live!"

She nearly let him go that instant, wondering whether in any way she could justify this action to Finn. Marceline knew the answer was no, but suddenly felt hesitation drown in a torrent of purpose.

"He wouldn't like a lot of things I've done," Came a scathing reply. A neck snapped forward so quickly that the head's motion was but a blur. It was followed by a nasty crunch, and then a horrible, pained cry.

Finn might have heard it were he not flinging his belongings at the cave walls in anger and pounding out the gnarliest, biggest tears he had ever produced. Instead, he grew silent after a short while, only to rise once more at a sudden sound coming from a certain horribly named Marceline-locating-device.

* * *

_Cliffhangers are fun, and so is foreshadowing! I am drained, so this will be a quick note, but Glob am I glad I finally freaking finished this chapter. The only thing I'm worried about at this point is keeping up pacing and not making Marcy seem too bipolar (though as you can tell, there are definite reasons for it). Thanks for reading!_


	11. The Art of Hesitation

**Review Responses:**

**The Nephilim King Michael: **_This one is a mix of dark and fluffy. _

**Patrat7777: **_I was on a mini planned hiatus. Thank you for the praise :) , and I plan on getting everything I've started on the site done. It might take a long while, though._

**He23t: **_Yeah, the tension actually got heavier than I originally intended, but this chapter has a few calmer moments._

**Glenn Leider: **_Your review actually made me giddy, because I'm kind of striving for Malus to be that hate-worthy. And I agree about Simon, he's going to have a few moments later on._

**Guest: **_Hehe, the dildo has another appearance coming up as well, and it's a scene I cannot wait to write._

**maximumalexride: **_Oh Glob! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks a ton!_

**April7000222: **_Thank you! I think I've finally developed a way to maximize my posting speed, so hopefully this is the last long update gap for awhile._

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Art of Hesitation**

Marceline reared back onto her feet, clutching her forehead and hissing like a wounded snake as the wizard moaned in equal parts pain and relief below her. _Stupid, stupid, stupid impulse control_, She thought, trying to regain some sense of balance and work through whether or not she was angry at herself for letting things get that serious, or for chickening out of sinking her teeth into the wizard's neck. _Stupid, stupid, STUPID Marceline…_

As her vision cleared, she realized that the answer was both, and that she was also pretty pissed at herself for head-butting his nose rather than just halting her momentum.

"Glob dammit, I've been a vegetarian for 379 years, and I almost blew it eating that sack of crap!" She shouted, kicking the wizard as she spoke. Then, in self argument, she screamed, "But he was going to off us!"

"Why would that make you want to eat me?" He mumbled in reply, wincing as his stupid decision to speak again attracted her attention to him.

"It's tradition," The Vampire replied cooly, glaring downward with the disgust one would level at a cockroach already squished. "If someone threatens a Vampire's life or the life of their close relations, the Vampire eats them. It's one of the reasons nobody's messed with my kind for so long, even after I managed to convince the rest of my people it shouldn't be a mandatory law, only an option if the Vampire sees fit. Realizing you might be eaten is a helluva deterrent. Probably would have made you think twice before coming after us, you tub of lard."

She kicked him again. As she had lectured him on Vampire bylaws (which, depressingly, she had completely memorized, as well as modernized), internally she was feeling complete shock at her actions.

The incident with the cowboy and his house had certainly unnerved her, but not in a way where she had wanted to lumping eat someone herself. If anything, it had made her realize how glad she was that she had shifted to relying purely on the color red for sustenance, rather than praying on the living.

Suddenly, her mind landed on her recent nightmares, and she swallowed in terror. Glob… what if she was revert—

"Please, let me live!" The wizard shouted, crashing her train of thought, and immediately cursed in pain afterwards, his injuries hindering his speaking and slurring his words. "I promise I'll skip town! I've learned my lesson! You are not to be trifled with!"

"…I don't want to end you," Marceline whispered, staring at him with a mix of derision and pity. "It wouldn't be right. Not like this. But I'm sure as churros not letting you walk away to come back after us later. And I am NOT taking you hostage or any crap like that. I don't want to see your ugly mug ever again, after today."

She fell silent, trying to come to a solution and going nowhere mentally. Marceline grew bored of thinking quickly, then snickered, realizing she could have him do her work for her via an empty threat. "You have a minute to find an answer to this dilemma, or imma nerf you, mang."

"What! You just said! I—" He fell silent realizing resistance was useless. "…So, you want to make sure I'm not a danger to you or your friend, right?" He asked, his speech slurring from his injuries. She nodded, and he gave a long, pained sigh. "…I get my powers from a ring I wear on my finger. If you take it off, I'm as harmless as a puppy."

"If you had lied, I would have been able to tell. Smart idiot," Marceline replied, bearing a satisfied smile. "Hand it over."

With some difficulty due to his injuries, he eventually pulled off a silver ring encrusted with a small circular ruby. By now, night had completely fallen, but even in the small light provided by the waning moon it shone as if alight with flame.

She snagged it from his hand, and after a moment nodded. "Oh, yeah. Definitely enchanted. Powerful stuff too. If you didn't suck so much, maybe you could have put up a fight." She kicked him yet again, almost daring him to ask her not to. "I'll be up all night, so if you want to be an idiot, like you are, and try to steal it back and give us trouble again, come on down. I won't be so lenient."

With that, Marceline took off and swooped down to a lower part of the mountain. She felt somewhat satisfied, having reaped some catharsis by pummeling him, yet her concern was greater. Her temper was starting to get the better of her at a rate that made her uneasy… or maybe it wasn't even her temper.

"He's dead. DEAD. I know he's dead," She murmured, landing on a rock and cupping her head in her hands. "So I'm dreaming about him… big deal. I killed him. I KILLED him." The Vampire couldn't bear to voice the notion that he might be able to force his way back from death.

"Glob, DAMMIT, Malus," She hissed, tossing a boulder off to the right and into a rock-face. "Why did you make me choose? Why did you have to become a monster…? How did I let you become one? And how… how did I nearly let you make ME into one?"

_How could you kill the only person who ever understood you in cold blood?_

His dying words echoed in her ears, but rather than contemplating them, she sighed, and shook them from her head. Going in circles thinking about the past was a waste of time.

Marceline's thoughts then turned to Finn. _He must be so torn up… I need to stop smacking around his emotions, I know how hard it is for him to deal with this stuff, and how confused he must be, and I just keep twisting him up inside. I hope he hasn't done anything rash. Eh, it's Finn. What's the worst that could—_

"THERE'S A ROGUE VAMPIRE ON THE LOOSE GLOB WHAT AM I THINKING!" Marceline shrieked, moving so quickly she broke the sound barrier for the first time since 249 years prior (in a rather ridiculous event involving a baby she had unintentionally won through Oklahoma Poke Em Poker) and leaving a dent roughly the size and shape of a circular above-ground pool.

* * *

**15 Minutes prior**

* * *

It took about two minutes for Finn to figure out which button stopped the beeping (time he spent constantly worrying that it was some kind of "Marceline's-escaping" alarm), which was slightly understandable since up until that point he hadn't realized it HAD buttons. After pressing a small, rectangular one, a hologram suddenly appeared in between the two ends of the Marcy-Polo.

The hologram was of Princess Bubblegum, who waved and casually asked, "Sup?"

"Whoa! Hey PB! I didn't know the Marcy Polo had video!" Finn replied, his spirits immediately rising now that he wasn't alone.

The Princess rolled her eyes at the name, but smiled at the pun nonetheless.

"Yep! It can also make coffee if you have any beans and water, and I've attached sensors so… um… well I know when Marceline's not around and that way we can talk without her…" Bubblegum winced at Finn's look of contempt, and sighed. "I know, I know, but I'm pretty sure if she knew I was using the Marcy Po… the device to keep tabs on you guys, she'd break it in an instant."

"I mean… I figured you would want to talk to her, though," Finn replied, blushing as he added, "you know… since you two used to be together." He was beginning to see why neither girl had informed him of their relationship, as bringing it up made him feel whacked out.

Taking the awkwardness in stride, the Princess shrugged uneasily. "Talking to me would just set her off, Finn, or else I would love to… And don't keep it secret or anything if she, you know, asks, and if she does want to… talk, tell her we can." She coughed quietly, rubbing the spot on her neck Marceline tended to get sugar-crazy from without thinking. "Is she doing alright?"

Finn's face fell and he shook his head. "I… I keep saying the wrong thing around her, Prubs…" He muttered, plopping down on his tush. "I think she's really dealin' with some bad mojo right now, but I swore I wouldn't bring any of that junk up since it makes her feel so bird-poopy, so I feel kind of stuck."

The Princess nodded, rubbing her arm as she slowly zoned out, thoughts running through her brain at the speed of light. Finn, used to when his past-crush got all thinky and broke out her mind-mounds for some legit calculations (he thought it was adorbz), waited patiently for her reply.

"Well, Finn, I'd just keep being you, honestly," Bubblegum finally replied, smiling as he blushed lightly. "Marceline appreciates your personality very much so, and positivity is what she needs right now… if she does lash out, I wouldn't blame yourself. Okay?"

After breathing deeply for a few seconds to qualm his heart's flutters at all the indirect compliments, Finn nodded. "That sounds legit. How are you doing? Any puppy deets? What about her journal?"

Bubblegum frowned, and replied, "They should be coming in any day now, and I've been trying to convince myself that violating her personal writing is excusable. It's not that I think it's that bad, but I'm pretty sure Marceline would do some gnarly things to me if she found out I had it, let alone that I've READ her deep, dark, luscious secrets." The Princess cackled spontaneously before clearing her throat.

"I also have bad news. Bad like that one time the Ice King tried to play Jake's Viola. The Lich has escaped from Prismo's realm and based on an account from Billy, who… well, we already thought he was dead, but Death brought him back temporarily, and Jake and I went to visit him. Sorry I haven't contacted you sooner, but I wanted to think things over, and didn't want you to worry."

"Well donkey poop," Finn replied, his head slumping into his hand. "I can't believe that undead fart's back again already. And Billy…" His head slumped further, Bubblegum trying to muster a comforting smile in support.

"I know Finn. It's horrible. And…" She bit her lip. "It gets worse. Billy said that the Lich is heading north, and then managed to piece together a target the monster wanted to possess… which was BMO, who had disappeared without a trace when Jake and I rushed back to check on her. I'm… really sorry, Finn."

"…That lumping jerkwad!" Finn shouted, grasping blindly for a rock and smashing it with a toss against the wall. "Is there any way to…?"

"Track him? I don't know," The Princess replied dejectedly. "I'm bustin' my gray matter trying to come up with any means to find him, because it sounds like, per usual, his plot is quite lethal. The good news is that he is probably weak, and therefore moving slowly."

"You said he was heading north? That's where Marcy and I are going, accordion to her," Finn stated. "Maybe we could try to intercept him?"

"…Hmm, perhaps," Bubblegum whispered, scratching her chin before sighing. "Um, I guess I really should talk to her… whenever she comes back, let me—"

"FINN!" Screeched Marceline, streaking into the cave, her entire body relaxing as she realized he was just peachy. "Oh thank Glob… I can't believe I was enough of a fool to run off when there's a rogue Vampi…re." She finished lamely, her eyes having zeroed in on the Marcy-Polo in confusion.

"Marceline! I'm so sorry I was being crotchety," Finn shouted, running over to Marceline and hugging her tightly.

"Ummm… Okay… no, really, you're good I'm…" Marceline muttered, squirming a little at the sudden display of affection, but sighing after a moment and returning the embrace, enjoying the small flow of warmth. "Aww… come here you weenie. You don't have to apologize at all. I'm sorry for my crap, Finn."

"Your crap is the best crap ever, it's alright," Finn replied in true Finn-fashion.

They stayed like that for several moments, and probably wouldn't have parted for a few more if they had not been interrupted by a quiet cough, and Princess Bubblegum saying, "I really, really don't want to ruin this moment, but I've just been staring at Marceline's ear and hair at an awkward angle for some time now."

Not only did that ruin the moment, it was enough to make Marceline jump back in shock, panting as she stared at the Princess's hologram with disdain. "I thought I saw your face on that thing, Bonnie… not surprised you found a way to spy on me."

Finn frowned at her words, and she glared at him in return. "What? I've told her before… I don't need her looking out for me…"

"It's just because she has the heart-butterflies for you, Marcy," Finn replied, flapping his hands over his heart.

"…Um, yes, I suppose," Bubblegum said, averting her eyes from both of them. "You know I…" She trailed off, unable to find the right words.

"Yeah, I know," Marceline said with a sigh, the Princess looking up in surprise. "I'm assuming there's another reason you chose until now to call?"

Bubblegum nodded, gesturing to Finn. "I was just talking to Finn about an unfortunate development: the Lich has returned to Ooo."

The wide range of expressions that flitted across Marceline's face in a span of only a second was something to behold. At first she seemed to shrink on the spot, her eyes those of a child, drawn wide in terror, before they narrowed into red, glowing slits of unspeakable malice, until they finally settled on surprise, the Princess's actual words having finally gotten through a thousand-year-wall of memories.

"What do you mean returned to Ooo? Isn't he supposed to be sealed in the tree?" Marceline asked after a moment, her voice low and harsh and her eyes, while no longer blood red, still glowing and now accusatory.

Bubblegum couldn't meet her eyes as she whispered, "He escape a while ago, and—"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BONNIBEL, ARE YOU REALLY THAT DAMN DENSE!" Marceline screamed, her hands desperate for something to wring.

"Jeez, you patoot, calm down! It's… I didn't want you to worry!" Bubblegum retorted, her voice rising before she sighed and shook her head. "Marcy I… please, I don't want to fight about this."

"Yeah, well you're not the one yelling, are you?" The Vampire hissed in return, turning away, though hearing the Princess say her pet name had definitely won over some brownie points.

"Could you let me explain?" Bubblegum pleaded, and though she kept her back turned, Marceline nodded. It took several minutes for the candy girl to catch the Vampire up on the Lich's recent activity, and at the end Marceline sighed.

"So, you want me to hunt him down? Fine, I'll do it," She said, shrugging in mock confidence when facing that monster was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment. Her eyes flickered over Finn, who had been standing quietly as the two royals had engaged in discussion. "Do you think he's able to deal with the Lich, Bonnibel? I mean…"

"He already has, Marceline. It's sweet that you're looking out for Finn, though," Bubblegum replied with a smile, only receiving a shrug and grumbles in response.

"We're doing good PB! Today, we helped out an old ex-cowboy!" Finn shouted, frowning as his comment did nothing to ease the tension in the room.

"Oh that's awesome," The Princess quickly replied, staring at Marceline as she spoke. "Um… just to let you guys know, if you ever want to call me, you push the little red button."

"What button turns calls off?" Marceline asked after a moment, her voice finally calm.

"Oh, the small, rectangular—" Bubblegum's voice and image died as the Vampire pressed said button, sighing and glaring at the Marcy-Polo.

* * *

"…HOW DID I FALL FOR THAT?!" Bubblegum shouted, smacking her head with her hand before raising her second and cupping her face in them, lowering herself into her desk. She moped for a moment before shrugging. "Eh, went better than last time."

* * *

"Can I please break this?" Marceline hissed, turning to Finn to find him staring at her in disbelief.

"Marcy… why are you so mean to PB?" He asked point blank, his face scrunched up. "I… I feel for FP the way you feel for the Princess, and I would never talk to FP like that." The Vampire's face fell drastically, and Finn gulped. "No, no, no! I'm sorry… I…" He stuck his hand in his hat and scratched his head.

"You know the answer, Finn," She replied with a sigh, casually tossing the purple device to the ground. "Because she tries to get close. You think you're bad? Ohhhh, nooooo." Finn frowned, the dripping venom emanating from her voice somehow worse than the bark he had anticipated.

"You're NOTHING compared to Bonnibel," Marceline continued sweeping her arms out and making a big show of her distaste. "'I'm just trying to help, Marceline!' she says when she knows what talking about my past does to me, and she won't lump off and leave it where it belongs. 'All your problems could be helped if you'd just talk to me,' she says, so blindly arrogant that she can't imagine there's things she can't comprehend. SOOOO—"

She finally caught Finn's face, and he nearly looked sick. "…Hey, don't be like that," Marceline muttered, beginning to feel disgusted with herself as well. "I… I do care, okay? I care about her. A ton, enough that I've kept my feelings secret from everyone we know for her sake. But half the time I feel like she's trying to dissect me, and I always worry it's going to rub off on you."

Finn's eyes widened. "Marcy, you know I don't want to do any junk like that, I just want to be here for when you're down, and need someone to play electric limbo with, or play music with, or—"

"AHHHHH!"

"…Scream in deathly fear?" Finn finished weakly, his complexion fading to match the off-white of his companion as the shout from outside echoed through the cave.

"Stay inside," The Vampire hissed, her tone tense and cutting through the now suffocating silence of the night. She shifted into invisibility and then bolted out of the cave, deciding to fly high in order to obtain a good vantage point.

There was no need, as the stifling, salty odor of blood pounded into her nostrils as soon as she left the cave mouth. Trying to calm her raging heartbeat, equally a product of terror and hunger, she slowly drifted to the scent's point of origin. There was no need to rush. Nothing that had lost that much blood could still be alive.

Sure enough, she was correct when she came to the body, her empty eyes scanning a haphazard smattering of red upon rock. It was obviously the Fire Wizard, she could tell from his smell and the little chunks of pink, and as she mutely studied his demise, she searched her heart for pity.

_You've done much worse, _Came Malus's cursed voice, her lip trembling in its wake.

Ignoring his words, Marceline found she could conjure no true sympathy, but mustered the decency to construct a makeshift grave, taking a slab and carving "FW" upon it before slamming it into the ground.

The moon, having been covered by clouds, now lent its light to the grizzly scene, and with its advent, blood the Vampire had failed to notice caught her eye. It was painted on a nearby wall, and her entire body began to shake as she realized it was curved into words. Vampiric , in fact.

"He's next," She whispered, tears flowing freely down her face as her head began to shake. "Glob, GLOB DAMMIT, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

The Vampire Queen quickly turned from fearful to enraged, screaming, "COME OUT! FIGHT ME YOU LITTLE PRICK! YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE OR I'LL—" She froze, and then began to speed back to the cave, breaking the sound barrier once more. Marceline knew she had just fallen pray to the oldest trick in the Vampire-feeding book; baiting.

The amount of anger, self-contempt, and worry that coursed through her mind in that split second was enormous, and as such she became quite discombobulated when she collided with something else travelling in midair.

Marceline spun out and nearly crashed into the mountain-side before catching herself and landing upon it on all fours, realizing in horror that what she had run into was the rogue Vampire and that the collision had slathered her with blood. The Queen caught the faintest of glimpses, noting a black cloak and dark-gray skin, before he became invisible, and presumably began flying away.

Demonic instincts being withheld, as she wanted nothing more than chase him down and to rip out his throat right now, she screamed out an obscenity that would make the Lich blush profusely, sent out a burst of telepathic force in his general direction she knew would likely do nothing but hope would cause him to crash headfirst into a tree and break his worthless spine (despite knowing that wouldn't kill him), and flew into the cave.

"FINN!" She screamed once again that night, sighing in relief to the degree she plum fell out of the air and landed on the cold floor when she viewed the boy in a combative stance, his red sword drawn and a gray arm that THANK GLOB was not his slowly pouring out thick, gooey blood. In fact, he seemed to be perfectly fine; slightly terrified and covered in Vampire-blood, but fine.

Marceline, on the other hand, could not believe she had nearly let such an obvious baiting tactic work on her, and it took several minutes of harrowed tears and jumbled speech before she could even begin to piece together the comforting word's Finn was trying to direct at her.

As she raised her head to meet his eyes, tears still falling from her own, a small part of her noted that this was a point of no return; that she was melding Finn permanently into her complete mess of a life. Marceline let the feeling wash over as he smiled down upon her sadly.

"I was so afraid I was going to find you dead," She whispered bitterly, pulling him into the tightest hug he had ever experienced. Finn did his best to maintain some semblance of breathing as she squeezed, her thin limbs digging into his back like chains. Somehow, despite the pain, it felt nice. He was pretty sure he would turn blue if she didn't relent a little, but made no comment about it.

"Pfff, please… there's only one Vampire I know who could take me out," He teased quietly instead, ignoring his growing blush and patting her head.

The undead girl giggled, slacking her grip as she realized she was crushing him. She was about to respond when a familiar voice she had grown quite sick of sounded in her mind.

_I wouldn't be so sure about that—_

"MALUS YOU SHUT THE UN-LIVING FUCK UP!" Marceline screamed, blinking quietly after her outburst bounced around the cave, slightly in awe at just how angry she had sounded. And yet… she felt so much BETTER. Free, even. Whether from her own mind or outside influence she knew not, but that was a question she would answer later; for now she was content to bask in the sensation of relief.

"…M-Marcy? You okay? And who's Malus?" Finn asked cautiously, and she couldn't exactly fault him for that. Not after she had just screamed at a voice inside her head, and certainly not after the string of days she'd been having.

"Better than okay, mang. I actually feel… good!" She replied, picking Finn up, placing his stomach on her hand, and spinning him on her palm a few times, the boy laughing at her sudden antics.

"That's great dude! I'm glad," He replied when she set him down, beaming brightly as he stumbled around due to dizziness.

"It's all thanks to you too," Marceline whispered, the smile that had suddenly gripped her face curving upwards even higher. "You're the best, Finn." She hugged him again, easing off of the squeezing this time and simply pressing against his bod gently.

"…Aww, shucks," The hero replied, obviously moved beyond words as he returned the embrace. "I… I don't know, I just…"

"Kept going when everyone else would have given up," She replied, and despite her new found happiness tears began to well back into her eyes. "Even Bonnie wouldn't, but you just kept chasing, kept talking, kept… Finning?" Her voice stuttered badly as she sniffled.

"Aw, Marceline, don't start crying again…" Finn whispered, his voice sinking as he mistook her waterworks for grief.

"They're tears of joy, you doink," The Vampire Queen laughed, nuzzling into his neck. "It's like all the stupid anger and sadness that's been smacking me around is dancing out of my face."

"Pff, what? You're acting downright goofy! But I'm glad," He repeated, knowing full well she was aware his heart was beating rapidly at all the contact.

"Believe me, I am too," Marceline whispered. "…But we need to have some serious discussions." She ended the hug, gazing at him with a blank look.

"Lay 'em on me," Finn encouraged after a moment, sensing his friend really was in the middle of a breakthrough of sorts. For a moment, she coughed, and seemed to be near backtracking from her statement, but after a sigh, she began to speak.

"First off, you… you should know about my past," Marceline murmured, as if speaking those words was akin to drinking poison. "Not… not all of it Finn, because… because some of it I just can't." Finn nodded sympathetically as he witnessed how painful it was to even mention her memories, her eyes clenching shut as she balled her fists so tightly her nails pierced her own skin. "But, you've had to deal with so much of it, from my dad, to… well, I think we might be dealing with someone else from it. A Vampire named… Malus."

Her voice caught as she spoke that name, and Finn winced, almost not wanting her to continue after seeing her so close to complete joy and now spinning back into pain.

"He… he was a monster," She choked out. "The King of the Vampires, and eventually, I usurped him by killing him. It's not a decision I'm proud of, but I didn't have much of a choice," The Vampire Queen added as Finn's face fell at the mention of murder.

"And as flat out wonked-out as it sounds, I think somehow he's regained influence in the mortal plain. At the least, that rogue vampire seemed to be in league with him. I've been hearing his voice in my head lately, and every time I've slept, he's haunted my dreams." She flinched as the exact content of them filled her mind, but refrained from telling the hero that in most of them he ended up dead and painted in his own blood.

Finn simply nodded, letting her speak her piece despite the wide assortment of questions and feelings coursing through him.

"But, when I shouted out his name, it almost felt like I… expelled him," Marceline said, smiling again at that feeling of freedom. "And now, we have to hunt down that jack-hole that tried to eat you and is aiding him, if it IS him, and also, obviously go after the Lich. I understand how important the Lich is, but at the same time, we're kind of being hunted down by a rogue Vampire, so…" She trailed off, touching her index fingers together and hoping he would agree.

"So we just kick that guy's ugly mug and then the Lich's?" Finn asked with a smile, cracking his knuckles.

The Vampire Queen returned it, lifting her bass into the air with moxie. "Oh y to the eah, BOI! And, um… if there's anything you really want to ask me, just do it, alright? Like… I'll tell you more about my past too, most likely via that memory gunk Ash used to try to win me back that one time, but it sucks that I've been making you feel so constricted around me. I…" She fell silent as Finn placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Marcy, it's alright," He said reassuringly, squeezing. "I know how hard this biz is for you, and…" He hiccupped a little as a stray tear fell from his eye. "It means a lot to me that you're cool with telling me. Like, for real."

"I'm, I'm glad you appreciate it, because I honestly turn into a complete mess when I spill out my heart-guts," Marceline said with a small smile. "And, on that note, I think we're both due for some nice rest. We still need to iron some crap out, but I think we'd better save that for the morrow. As in tomorrow. Not Bonnibel's tweaking bird," She clarified, her friend giggling halfheartedly as he relived getting bombed by said bird's stuff.

"Uh, one thing," Finn replied, looking down at his now blood-stained clothes. "Like, I forgot to bring anything else to wear with me because… I'm foolhardy? And now they're kind of stained with Vampire blood… sooo… shopping tomorrow?"

Marceline grinned evilly at his words, replying, "Ooooh, boy. I've always wanted to pick out your clothing. I am going to make you look sooo rough and grimy."

Finn smiled uneasily, imagining himself dressed in some of the outfits Marceline wore, and regretting mentioning it in the first place. If only he could have witnessed the clothing the Vampire ran through her mind after he was far away in dreamland. Instead, he made squeaky noises in his sleep while she stared at him with both amusement and glowing care, whispering under her breath, "Hehehehe, ass-less chaps. All the better to punch buns with."

* * *

The afterlife had been more or less what Malus had expected it to be, despite having never thought he would die; more prejudice, more pain, more isolation. Truth be told, if he had been a good little prisoner and quietly bided his power over time, he most likely could have broken out of the little cage Death had crafted him. Even in using his massive stores of strength to simply distract Death by attacking his prison's barriers, he had nearly found escape several times.

Malus however had lost most of his patience, a resource he had never garnered much of in the first place. The only thing he had lost more of was his humanity; but then again, he doubted anyone else had felt as much humanity course through them as he.

That thought brought the memory of the silky flow of blood, and as he was oft to do, Malus reveled in the reminiscence, his eyes rolling back ever so slightly and his lips smacking involuntarily. He knew that Death had mistakenly believed that the gloomy chamber he now resided in, with its seemingly endless boundaries, opaque ceiling and floor and pale gray obelisks, would bore him into submission, and maybe convince him to think about how close he had come to a successfully rendering a species extinct, but in reality it simply gave him an empty canvas with which to drown out his eyes and lurk in his mind's darkest fantasies.

And, in rare moments, the slain King would wonder if that was enough to sate his lust, but eventually, he would always decide against such thoughts of being content with what amounted to enslavement. There was too much he had left behind that he could still reap fruit from, and besides, Malus had never been content with survival. No, he was not Stormchild, a parasite that fed itself just long enough on the good graces and misguided kindness of that around it before shuffling the cards and finding a new hand to hold in hope of impossible empathy.

If he had been, he would have never feasted upon every last human he could find in retaliation for his years of imprisonment at that races hands, nor would he have drunken his own parents dry after he had turned and escaped. Survival was for the weak. The strong THRIVED, and Malus would do so again, regardless of cost.

His claws dug into the cold stone of the pillar he sat upon as the darkness swelled all around, his muted pupils searching for just one bloody shade of the color red in his prison, which he knew Death would never grant him. Soon, it would not be stone his hands grasped, but his betrayer's very neck. Well, not until after he made her truly pay for her crimes against him… not after he snapped her spirit as if it were but human bone between his fangs.

So she had rejected his mental influence for now; the foolish brat knew not what he planned. She had already proved her imagination for depravity was quite limited. Oh, how many images of that human boy's bloody body limp in his own arms had he placed in Marceline's pretty little head, but how LOVELY, how PAINED, how BROKEN she would be when he forced her to guzzle his life-hood with her own mouth.

Malus reared back, his howling, schizophrenic laughter exploding in thin air of his solitude. His jovial malice did not last long, as a small hum silenced his chortle. His index finger slipped into his cloaks inner-pocket and flung a small marble high into the air, a routine he was now quite familiar with.

As it fell into his outstretched palm, he hissed, "I already know you've failed, Iraneus." For what could have been an eternity, the communication-node remained silent, and yet Malus could feel the fear his pathetic servant exerted from the other end.

"…The boy is stronger than he looks, my lord," Came a quiet, dejected whisper, and the Vampire King was reminded slightly of the whines of the dogs he had once trained to hunt humans for him. "He… cut off my arm."

_Then Marceline is going to rip you apart, welp, _Malus thought as he smiled, imaging his bride's axe lifting limbs into the air with utter ease. "Tsk, tsk, all you had to do was capture him, and you couldn't even manage that?"

"…Sire, I—" Iraneus began, but Malus would had none of his pathetic excuses.

"If you request my presence again without him in your possession, I will burst your heart with my mind," Malus replied in a droll tone. "And next time, do get me a picture of Marceline if you can manage? I miss her form dearly."

"…I thought you wanted her dead, my lord?" Came his servant's confused reply. With these words, the Vampire's eyes softened, the past unwinding within his mind.

_"I love you, Malus," She whispered airily, her breath so crisp, so tender… had he ever heard those words from another being before? If his mother and father had ever uttered them, his mind could not recall…_

_"We'll live forever; we'll fill this land, rebuild this world. You as its King, I as your Queen, together, side by side," She proclaimed boldly, delicately placing his gray fingers on her wedding band with her own slim, white members, her smile so filled with passion, so effortlessly quelling his hatred and shifting all his thoughts to love._

A tear welled in Malus's eyes before he could stop it, and rolled off his face into the eternity below. A fitting metaphor for what their love was to him now. "No, not dead," He whispered, cutting the link before Iraneus could utter another word.

The red, gleaming eyes of Malus, of pure hatred, pierced through the black gloom that could not hold him, longing to stare into hers once more. "I want her to understand," He rumbled, the muscles in his arms pulsing with livid tension. "How deep betrayal cuts, and what its price is in the end. And she will."

_For the first time in his life, as he poured her another drought of fine, hearty Norwegian blood, and pressed the golden chalice to her lips, Malus felt whole. He had found nirvana. He had found all he needed in the world._

Malus's hand deftly gripped the old wound, where Marceline had impaled the stake that had ripped him from everything he had built. In the back of his mind, he heard her sobs, her sobs of weakness, her sobs of false love, her sobs of false guilt, and he wanted to rip her heart from her body and swallow it whole.

"She will be my queen, and this world will remember the name it would not dare utter centuries ago," The Vampire King hissed, lowering his face into his cloak. "And I will wear that pathetic human's skin as a pelt. Sleep well, Stormchild. I will rip you from my throne and make you mine again."

* * *

_I apologize for leaving this for so long on such a harsh cliffhanger, but here is a giant chapter as a peace-offering. It took me a long time to get a lot of this where I wanted it to be (Marceline's thoughts, Finn's conversation with PB, Marcy and PB, and especially Malus), and in some cases for the inspiration to hit. In most cases though it was college burnout, and since it's now summer hopefully I can form some sort of schedule. _

_If this has any glaring error please point them out, because I always worry about that when posting after such a break. _

_It's probably become fairly obvious at this point that this fic goes into some dark places, and the trade-off for me to keep a T rating in that sense is to limit any graphic descriptions. On that note, though, finally having Marceline break free from her angst was actually mentally relieving to write, and I hope her character moments came across big in this chapter._

_Finally, Malus. My issue with the Lich is there's no inherent personality to get behind. Building off of that, my goal is to make Malus a complete character; there's obviously no denying that he's a monster, but I want him to be understandable. Probably not relatable, but at the least understandable. I really like how he came out, but holy cripes Batman do I not trust myself implementing OCs in established universes, so any criticism there would be much appreciated as well. _

_I had at least ten other things I wanted to mention but this A/N is already a monster, so thanks for reading and putting up with my updating. Some of the reviews on here make my day when I read them._


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